#a bit of love for these good ol' villains here

[court-jobi]

You're It For Me

Pairing: Bakugou x reader (biker!prohero reader, afab pronouns used)

Words: 4K

Rating: T+

Warnings: Pro-hero Bakugou/Pro-hero Reader, canon-typical aftermath, love confessions, light hurt/comfort, protective Bakugou is protective, bedsharing-not spicy (yet)

Summary:

Bakugou fears very little in this life- because he knows with you by his side, even fighting the worst of the worst villains is easier when you're on the other end of the line in his headset. But never one to let things go unsaid, he makes sure to cup the side of your face and tell you the greatest promise short of 'I love you' that he can before storming out for the mission: "You're it for me. Got that?" You have to swear it back every time, so he believes it. It's both a promise and a lifeline- especially when he hears the worst possible communique: that the team's lost visual of you.

A/N: my ao3 loves have encouraged this pairing to be something of a series, so maybe that's what this will become!

For my My Hero Academia Masterlist, check it out here!

Read on AO3

Beeping right into his left eardrum signals an incoming update through Bakugou’s earpiece, pinpointing the alert straight to the source over the raucous cheers of his thankful public. He’d taken on the ‘A’ grouping of villains, while you pursued ‘B’ as they made an escape from the scene. The ‘A’ punks were the ‘muscle’, but Dynamight was far stronger than any of them had anticipated. 

‘Pissy extras, you weren’t worth my time’, he’d touted when his good ole buddy Cellophane wrapped em up tight in a nice, neat bow. 

Bakugou might have celebrated this win a bit more with the crowd surrounding him, having caught the villain and was prepared to call it a day alongside Sero, ticking off another win tally in traditional, mega-blasty action… if not for the update coming through on his comms:

"We lost sight of Joyride- crash site at the industrial pylons at 6-5-2 and 6-5-7- Tightrope is-- confirmed; eliminated. Repeat, requesting visual of Joyride-"

Bakugou's soul drops to his gut. 

There was a crash and you were missing. Sero hears the same update and looks to Bakugou gravely- knowing full well who you are to him. Not just a teammate, but more, in every way.

Turning quickly from the gathering of people, Bakugou takes a one-armed leap from the side of the building and blasts off a slight cushion to his fall, then jogs towards the incoming transport with Jeanist's interns calling out for him to report back. He doesn't listen to any word of thanks as he marches to the transport. He's fueled by pure anxiety behind masked eyes, rage bubbling hot in his breath. He listens to his radio, and prays.

"--still no sight of- wait, wait! Joyride spotted! We have visual! Status? She alive? Affirmative, she's coming up over the edge- (laughs) I can't believe it, she chucked that eight-wheeler straight into it!"

Bakugou swallows, throat tight despite the relief.

"Ok Dynamight, off to rende with Joy–?-"

"YOU HEARD ‘EM, MOVE!"

Poor intern shutting right up and driving away, Bakugou shucks off his pauldrons and vambraces against his discipline that he should really keep em on until fully off duty, but with his protective instincts still in overdrive, he knows he's producing more than enough sweat should he be caught by surprise at this point in the aftermath. He's not going to need the extra firepower where he's going.

Screeching to a slowed approach, Bakugou can't wait the extra second to allow the van to come to a complete stop before he's chucking the door open and jumping past the cordoned off emergency vehicles assisting passersby. He shouts only briefly for 'making way', and people listen to the man on a mission. Calls of thanks fall to his deaf ears- by choice, this time.

From around the corner, he turns assessing the damage surrounding the crash site below. He spots Uravity already helping, and is grateful for her expertise while still set on recovering you.

There ahead -his angel in a leather jacket trudging up the off ramp with weary steps- is the sight he thanks every god in the heavens for. 

Bakugou stays his swearing out of sheer gratitude to not see copious amounts of blood draining your face; that sheen on you is just sweat as you’ve chucked your helmet off to breathe better. One look at you and it’s like no other day; you just look understandably tired and in want of a shower more than life. Your expression isn’t pained– just your usual distaste for incline treks by show of your flat, annoyed brows and mouth breathing. That look coming from a top 20 Pro Hero known for her stylish grace is funny- if only under different circumstances.

There's a crack in his voice as he shouts your callsign, but he's not ashamed of it; not with the punch of fear ripping the sound from him. He sets off in a run– straight to you.

You look up at the alarmed call. Dynamight is hurtling towards you, and you're just as relieved to see a sight for sore eyes. Seems the shock of what you just did catches up as you find renewed haste in leaving the smokey scene behind you. You pick yourself up into a jog with a delirious smile forcing its way onto your face.

In a span of a few seconds, Bakugou shoves up his protective face mask, catching your bounding self up into his arms, hugging you tight for two full, shaking breaths before pulling you into a fire-loaded, protective kiss.

Smokelines are smudged across his cheeks and burning tears lay built up at his lash line as he heaves grateful breaths in and out through his nose against your cheek. This kiss is tense, but needed. Without an ounce of regret, he keeps you painfully close. You held no less affection from him, your hands immediately grabbing for purchase on his nape, sweat-licked and all. You gasp for a breath with a laugh before he smashes his mouth across yours with tongue, messy and relieved and angry that something has scared him so bad.

Releasing your lips from his, he bumps his forehead to yours for a solemn few seconds to rein himself in.

He husks, "You good-?"

"Yeah."

"Not hurt?"

"Nah~"

"You swear."

You nod with your eyes still closed, breathing a quick answer before being given another couple hard kisses on your cheek. You're hugged tight again, swayed as he takes a couple traipsing steps with you in his arms. A heart-wrenching, gutteral sigh rasps from him, leaving you reeling as he holds you in sight of who knows how many. The fact that you're not alone in this moment is only a fleeting thought as your residual adrenaline causes you to shake- probably the reason why Bakugou is set on keeping a tight hold on you.

"I'm ok, Katsuki. M'okay-" you answer shakily, barely a whisper. You're convincing yourself under the guise of assuring him. It works, in a way.

"Thank fuck," he answers to your neck.

He’d done his part- you heard so on the coms once you found your dislodged helmet after you made a timed dismount off the bike before it careened you both off the exit ramp. It was then that you reactivated the jostled ‘live’ signal from your helmet and typed back the status code that you were alive. The mic had broken, or else you would have reported so yourself. 

But the fact remains, you haven’t told anyone reporting on the scene what you’ve seen- what you’ve done. You did stop the villain’s crew from taking what they’d stolen, but you’d effectively ended anyone else’s chances of recovering the files with the demolition site you’d essentially forced them into. The valued records didn’t fall in the wrong hands, certainly, and it’s an ultimate grace that no other civilian lives were lost, but you do think about how grim the scene looks at the bottom of the ramp. 

There’s no earthly way anyone could have survived that firefest. For some reason, the gravity of that fight grips you now. You’d almost joined them had you not thought hast enough.

"He's.. he's dead. Tightrope and them, the uh- runner. I hit 'em."

"Good. F’he wasn’t, I was gonna kill him myself."

You chuckle, despite the subject matter. Tired breaths still heave from you, coupled with the gentle relief of Bakugou’s supporting arms around you– bare arms you now notice are cannonless, as they set you fully down on your own.

"Oi, BACK IT UP!"

You realize there's a few reporting drones coming in at your back when Katsuki’s dominant hand lifts off of you to bat one away with a harmless smack on a lens; luckily Bakugou is already ushering you back to the van, keeping you ahead of him with a careful palm to your shoulder. He lets you lead towards shelter and a thorough once-over from the medic team for the shock. More grateful civilians cheer praises on both of you, especially your name since it was evidently shared by many as the saving agent of the day. 

Unlike your chilly counterpart, you did offer a wave and a reassuring, proud grin for those onlookers, but Bakugou knows your true feelings better as you grit through your teeth,

“Oh, yes please, photos. What I’d kill for a bath right now…”

After a ride back to the agency, you start to breathe normally again. On the bus where you’re  strapped up with a bp cuff monitoring your status, your care is complete with your hand in Bakugou's as he stands above you. He hovers even more after you hit the showers, dress down comfortably, and receive one of the highest compliments from your agency lead on your quick actions and limited infrastructure casualties. Finally, true ease in your tummy relaxes as you get a pass on submitting your report while in your current state until morning, and as you are given a lift back to the apartment complex-- of course, with Bakugou in tow.

It's the early morning hours when you are able to go lay down, the smallest change in the sky after the night’s darkest hour giving way to a persistent sun. It does little to threaten your desire to sleep though, with your protective boyfriend playing bodyguard keeping a hand on you at all times then offering to stay 'until you fall asleep'. 

You feel the safest you have in months that morning… 

When he follows your soft ask for him to see you safely upstairs, carries out his nighttime routine alongside yours, he does nothing more forward than wrap his entire body as close to you as possible. He kisses you goodnight with care and softness and just an edge of heat.

"You fucking scared me." Bakugou whispers into the quiet space you've created.

"I thought nothing scares you."

He huffs, but it's a sad, wet sound. "Tch, like hell it doesn't."

You're both quiet for a while after that, just relishing in your joint safety, touching each other to soothe the chills from within, soaking in his light presses to your forehead until he lays a kiss longer than the others–

"I love you so damn much," Bakugou rasps all in one go, "I love you."

 It's the first time he's said it, outright.

You'd thought you'd scream and kick your feet if he ever got around to saying what you already believed to be true. All you want instead is to absolutely melt into his skin and sob.

"HEY-" 

Bakugou called out to you at the start of all this in full, armored glory- nearly every bit of skin covered up in his winter suit while the dead of summer sun bears down. For this crazy mission, he’s been preparing all afternoon, ready to bring his all to the fight ahead. 

One word and you whip around before he yanks you into speaking range. He grounds you with a hand to your shoulder keeping you still- expecting him to say ‘be careful’, maybe even an extra ‘watch for those crackhead speed demons out there’. 

But with his commanding, brash voice on, you weren't sure what he'd say to you- not when he’s looking at you like that. 

"You-- y'better not pull anything stupid now," he stares you down with complete earnest, choosing words carefully because he figured you might be listened to on the team’s headsets.

Yet never one to let things go unsaid, he cupped the side of your neck for the next bit-

"You're it for me. Got that?"

Your azure-blazed helmet hid most of your face, so you smiled with your eyes so he could see that you agreed. You heard him loud and clear, and got his meaning entirely. 

You placed your hand in an 'i love you' sign on his chest before another call over the radio gave directions and pulled you both apart to look for the flare.

"-Got it,” you resolved while only giving him a second before you crafted a biped transitbike in record time with your quirk-  "Go kick some fuckin’ ass!" 

Heart zinging with motivation, you sped away- leaving Bakugou to cackle at your rare cursing and blowing his own way skyward and into his element.

Tipping your head up, you can barely find words with him looking at you like this. It’s the look from this morning all over again: a tight, straight-set scowl dead set on keeping himself from crying, hand sifted itself into your hair like you're going to be ripped from him in an instant, and soft eyes that are begging- a look you never thought you'd see from him.

You don't have it in you to tease him, or even be your trademark soft and demure to contrast his hard and offensive shell. No, you feel like doting on him when he's like this, because you know you’re the only one who sees him this way. This vulnerable, laid beside you with a weighted blanket on him to soothe his anxiety, too.  

So you promise your whole existence to him instead: a genuine word without fear of an audience.

"I love you, too. You’re it for me."

You sink in and out of sleep while he holds you like this. Though gratefully, he's out like a light after the last few kisses he laid on your head when you said it back-- like his spirit could finally rest knowing you believed the same.

You keep waking up in the night unsettled by some restless instincts left over from the night before. 

After twisting again and turning your neck to bleakly look at the light coming in, you heard his drowsy inhale bring out a grumbly moan,

"Go t'sleep."

'It's bright,' you say through your exhaustion, but it's evident that you're far too awake by your tone.

At this, you heave in surprise as Bakugou completely flips you onto the other side of him, tilting you with a palm until you turn the other way (towards the bathroom) and lie completely in his shadow. You check his face to see if he's upset at your waking him, but his eyes remain shut by sleep and are solely focused on blindly making sure you're completely locked in and comfortable in his arms, still.

It's thoughtful and strikes you sweetly, tucked back in his embrace again. You feel completely secure with his warmth flooding you at your back.

"Thanks."

Again, he simply whispers,

"mmm sleep f'me, 'ngel... I've gotcha."

A phone buzzes just minutes later, his. It's Kirishima- and like moth and flame they are for each other, Bakugou answers, tipping only onto his back so he’s barely moving from you. You still sleep through lightly and you hear him talking, but not each and every word fully.

Bakugou swiped up to answer the call, but didn’t deign a chipper welcome necessary.

"......hey uhhh Bakugou?"

"hmwhat."

"Are you still sleeping?"

"Yes."

"It's after 2pm, man! Thought you were dead to the world~"

"I am. Whaddya need."

"Well, just wanted to check on you man. I saw the fight last night, and I've tried calling Little Miss, too but she's not answerin’."

"Had the same night. She's 'sleep too."

"Eh, I shoulda figured. Looked like it took it out of you."

"Tch, wasn’t that hard."

Kirishima played into his mischievous lilt on his end of the line, 

"mmmm sure bout that? That uh, kiss, didn't look like ‘nothing’."

...Kirishima wasn't there. How would he have known you kissed?...

Bakugou wakes a little more. "Huh."

Kirishima burrs the speaker a little on the other line. Must be from him laughing through his nose knowing Bakugou's severe dislike for that sort of attention.

"I mean, I get it. I'd probably be the same after watching my girl go down like that, but-- hate to break it to ya, but it's everywhere, Kats."

"-Whaddya mean."

Notifications have flooded his phone when he cracks open an eye to really look at it, but he opens the most recent from Kirishima, texted by the redhead’s insistence for Bakugou to take a look.

There are stills of said clip of him running up to you and kissing you– one particular shot looks gorgeously cinematic because someone with a photo-optic quirk had clearly followed him, probably from that drone he almost broke. Screenshots Kirishima has collected (proof of ‘true manliness’, he claims) all bear headlines of how this was the most unexpected hero pairing of the season: how "Joynamight" is stealing the hearts of swooning civilians everywhere- and likely the shutdown of the entire hero rumor mill surrounding the explosive hero standing at No. 5. The dating scene has allegedly erupted into chaos over the news.

Bakugou stared at the photo of him holding you. One camera turned more at his shoulders by the way he'd stepped, so in this photo, he could see you more clearly- holding on as just about any loved one would hug their better half, but so beautifully content and safe in your face- if a little emotional yourself.

A blank hum is all Bakugou offered. Soft. Seemingly disinterested if it wasn't for the proud smirk.

Kirishima snickered on the other end of the line. "You sucker."

"Yeah, yeah."

"...dytell er yet?"

"Not there... But.. couldn't not, yknow."

"aaand?"

"... Dont scream about it, mtired."

Kiri audibly gasped, then at least honored Bakugou's request for distance from the phone, whooping and hollering off speakerphone, uplifted at the news. His carrying on made even a sleep-laden Bakugou happy, even if he lay there rolling his eyes for his friend to be done.

You finally stirred beside him, turning over with a stretch and seeking him out. He quickly received you, kissing your forehead again, then tipping back to the phone. "I'll call you back later, Eij."

"--Huh? Dude I WANNA KNOW WHAT YOU SAID, WHAT HA-"

"Mmm who's that," you moaned.

Bakugou rubbed your back to rouse you the rest of the way. "Your big red dog."

You chortled at Kirishima's new moniker. "Whas’hewant."

Bakugou debated letting you stay in your bubble, but figured ripping the bandaid might be best. 

"Just called to give us a head's up."

You looked up to him, "About what?"

Bakugou only smirked, tilting his phone to you. To focus on the light, you woke up fully, eyes widening to just how bad they did -indeed- immortalize your private moment on the scene.Those grimey, windswept headshots you’d feared at the medtend were the least of your photogenic worries now.

But-- like his own reaction-- you couldn't keep from smiling.

"Ohhhh~" you sighed, then deeper, "Ohhhhh we are in deep shit."

Bakugou snuggled in– smug as all getout, "Yeah, we are."

"Wait, lemme see-- oh my God, Kats... Oh Katsuki, this-.."

"Yeah yeah, give it back-"

"Nooo I need that one! Send it to me!"

"It's likely blown yours up too, dummy! Get your own!"

Memory of your reentry home failed you, so you had to ask him where your phone ended up because you didn't have a clue. He’d put it on the charger for you, of course. Then, sitting side by side, you both were reviewing the more urgent notes from your respective social media managers with deep, secretive chuckles. 

These photos were a romantic’s dream, but a PR jumpscare. Had to be addressed in some way or it would never end, truly.

"What’d yours say?"

You fixed your wonky part with a little fluff to your hair, settling your initial overwhelm of nerves: " ‘Go on something lowkey- Present Mic’s show or a podcast off the mainstream, say ‘friendship is magic’, maybe tease it if I want to, and move on.’ I dunno- that seems like a lot of public speaking and scheduling out the wazoo. You?"

"She's just yapping. Didn't read it all." Bakugou barely cared about his social media presence since his manager did most of the publishing, save for Bakugou sharing some highlights of his select, predictable group of hero team ups. Besides that, he just focused on paying them well enough to cover his bullshit if he ever let his temper flare. Besides, now he was waiting on what you'd say, "So what're you gonna do?"

You debated, smirking like a devil the whole time as you realized what could be the fastest way to get your take out in the open, 

"... I wanna share the photographer's post. Not this J’akku Press spread."

This earned a smirk for you, "Yeah?"

"...yeah?" you returned a shy look- wondering if you were crazy.

"I will, if you will."

Bakugou’s soft, sleepy loyalty is one you fear will disappear after you both get started with your day. When Dynamight reports back in, you can only hope that he’d still feel the same way today as he did yesterday- though you imagine managing the tabloid fodder a post like this can make will be less than pleasant for him. He’s so private most of the time, and when he’s not digitally absent, he’s loud. This hesitation must have shown on your face– because he takes your hand for a second and kisses it to stop your spiral.

"I meant what I said. You’re it- you’re mine. Whether we tell the world or not. Up to you."

You bite your lip again, and doubled down. You shift to snuggle with your back cradled on his chest, building the shared post:

"Aftermath: Joyride emerges from crash scene unscathed, reunited with Dynamight in a rare tender moment for today's top tier heroes." Joyride_fm: see edit: Lucky, lucky girl. Sorry for scaring you, m'love❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥 #rideordie

Bakugou snickers, kissing your shoulder closest to him. "Do it, I'll repost that one."

He, however, did not let you read as he added his response thread, making you wonder what kind of a novel he was going to be sharing because of how long he was taking... 

Instead, you just curled into his side and peppered him in a few distracting kisses on his chest. He’d come bolting to you last night, a core memory you’d be fantasizing about for a long time. Just watching the way his chest is rising and falling here in bed so calmly when you know just hours ago it was heaving like you’d been lost at sea, you are so gone on him. When he nudged his shoulder for you to check his draft, you damn near cried:

"Aftermath: Joyride emerges from crash scene unscathed, reunited with Dynamight in a rare tender moment for today's top tier heroes." THE_Dynamight_SoV: Hero work is not for the weak. We train, we fight, and we do everything we can to make our world a safer one, to whatever end. This woman is one of many selfless, ball-busting, indomitable heroes that I'm not only proud to do this work with, but one I can't see myself living without. You're looking at the face of a man who's holding his priorities right there in 4k. So yeah. If you see one of us like this after a battle, know it's because heroes get scared too– for good fucking reason. Better not make this a habit, dummy. ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥 #rideandDONTdie

"Oh my God~~" your tears and misty sniffles had you caving into his shoulder, "my tweet was so STUPID!!"

Katsuki bragged with proud cackles as you cried it out, sending the post out for the Internet to bawl over before you could dare edit your post, and turned his phone right back to silent.

You got snotty and overly emotional at how sweet he was with his statement, but were comforted by his hands smoothing over you until you calmed.

"Love you,” you settled into the peace he held you in.

"Love you, dummy."

When you got up for the afternoon run back to the office to finish your reports with fresh eyes, you entered the building as normal. There’s no hint in how either of you carry yourselves that say you all just spend the last twelve hours like koalas draped over each other. The only sign of such affections was your use of an Allmight tervis you're nursing your coffee with –clearly his– which your good ole partner in electric crime, Chargebolt, clocked from the end of the hallway:

"JOYNAMIGHT 2024!!!!"

"SHUDDUP, POWER OUTTAGE!!!"

[bittenbyyou]

Smitten

High School!AU | Peter Parker x Reader

genre: fluff

description: Just Peter Parker falling for you and coming up with the silliest plan to talk to you more.

word count: 1.8k

warnings: some Spider-Man Homecoming spoilers, Peter being a dork lol

a/n: Hello! This is my first time writing for Peter and I’m such nervous posting it, but I adore him and thought the origin story of how my bf and I got together suited Peter so well. Lol. So enjoy! 

The first time Peter heard about you was in freshman year when you were ranked number one in academics, earning jealous stares from everyone. But not from him; he was rather impressed.

Sophomore year was when your name came up again through his ex-girlfriend, Liz. Turns out you were her partner for an English project, which he didn’t think much of. He was happy with Liz… until he defeated her dad, who turned out to be a villain called “The Vulture”, and she and her mom moved to Oregon afterwards…

Anyway, it was now junior year and for the first time ever, he had a class with you—good ol’ AP U.S. History. 

“Dude, over here,” Ned called out from the first row of seats near the back corner. Peter smiled at his best friend and made his way over, taking the seat behind him.

“Hey Ned.”

“So glad we have another class together.”

“You said it.”

The two made small talk until you arrived, taking the seat next to Ned. He was mutual friends with a lot of your friends, so you felt comfortable sitting next to someone you were at least acquainted with rather than a stranger.

“Hi Ned,” you said sweetly.

“Oh [Y/N], you’re in this class too? Nice!” Ned gestured a hand towards Peter. “This is my best friend, Peter.”

“Peter… Parker, right?” you asked. Peter was surprised you knew his full name, but then remembered Liz. He nodded his head a few too many times, but you found it endearing. 

“Y-Yeah. Hi.”

“Hi. Nice to meet you. I’m [Y/N].”

Wow. You were cute.

“Sup losers,” a deadpanned voice said from behind you. You turned around to see MJ, jumping out of your seat to give her a big hug. 

“MJ! We’re in the same class, yay!”

“I know you’re not hugging me this early in the morning,” she said with her index finger raised. 

“You know you love me.”

“Ew.”

She gave you two pats on the back and you let go, giggling at her expression of faux disgust. You returned to your seat, which was in the middle of MJ and Ned. MJ then quickly whipped her head around to look at Peter.

“Sup Parker,” MJ said with a salute of two fingers.

“Hey MJ.”

“You met [Y/N] yet?”

“Yeah, Ned introduced us… you know her too?”

“Met her in an elective. She looked lonely.”

“You make me sound like a loser with no friends,” you said, pouting your lips. 

“I have no friends either.”

“You have me!” you chirped.

“And what about us?” Ned asked, gesturing back and forth to him and Peter.

“Whatever,” MJ brushed off. The three of you laughed while Peter watched, feeling somewhat left out even though he was mentioned. 

“I’m a bit jealous. You all already know each other,” you said. Wow, you said exactly what he was thinking. They knew you, but he didn’t.

“Well the only person you don’t know is Peter and I only met him because of the decathlon. He’s really not all that interesting,” MJ said, smirking in his direction. 

“Are you serious? Peter’s the coolest,” Ned said, hyping him up like a true best friend. “Peter knows Sp—”

“Dude!” Peter exclaimed, hinting at him to shut up with his deadly glare. 

Ned chuckled nervously. “I mean… you’ll get to know him, [Y/N]. And he’ll get to know you.”

*Ding!*

Saved by the bell.

From that day on, the four of you grew closer. Group work was always in teams of four in that class which worked out perfectly. Peter quickly learned you hated presentations because you would freeze up and trip on your words, so he volunteered to present instead just to hear you thank him and flash that sweet smile.

At lunch, Ned always invited you and MJ to join him and that’s when Peter learned how passionate you were about food. Specifically the school’s chicken alfredo. 

“It’s delicious!” you said, doing a little happy dance after eating a forkful of pasta. 

“It’s gross, processed food. Do we even know if it’s chicken?” MJ asked, eyeing the meat on her fork suspiciously. 

“I don’t care, I’m still eating it,” you said, enjoying the noms. 

“Aren’t you lactose intolerant?” Ned asked.

“That’s not stopping me.”

“I’m lactose intolerant,” Peter said without thinking. Everyone stared at him with a variety of expressions. MJ was skeptical, Ned was confused, and you were surprised. 

“I literally saw you eating ice cream yesterday,” MJ pointed out. 

“And his bowels paid for it,” Ned lied. Peter let out a nervous laugh.

“Hah, yeah, I was on the toilet… for hours.” You placed a hand over your mouth, trying your best not to laugh. “But I’m fine now!”

“Are you sure you should be eating lunch today then?” you asked. “Wouldn’t want your bowels to hurt again. I’ll do the honors of reducing food waste and eat it for you.”

MJ and Ned stared at Peter. Well, MJ was daring him to eat it with her piercing eyes while Ned gave him a knowing look.

“You can have it,” Peter said warmly, sliding his tray of food over to you.

“Yay!” you cheered. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

Because honestly seeing you eat and doing that happy dance again filled him up more than any food could. You were too cute.

Peter was sure of it. He definitely had a crush on you. It took him until almost the end of first semester to realize it, but he knew now. 

He liked how smart you were. The way you answered any question the teacher threw at you so flawlessly was a mystery to him because history bored him. 

He liked how funny you were. The way you were passionately defending why mayo was the superior condiment against MJ and her love for ketchup made him die of laughter. 

He liked how kind you were. The way you helped another girl plan a dance for her quinceanera despite having so much homework. 

He liked how cute you were. The way you fell asleep in class after being the first to finish your test. 

He even liked how clueless you were. The way you knew absolutely nothing about Star Wars but still allowed him to ramble on and on about it in class and listen to him with a caring heart. 

Yup. He definitely liked you. 

A lot.

But he didn’t know how to tell you. You two didn’t hang out outside of school at all and he was so darn shy. It wasn’t until he and MJ hung out at Ned’s place one day when an opportunity arose. You were invited to his house as well, but you declined because of some projects you left till the last minute. 

The trio were building Legos and at one point Ned had to go downstairs and help his lola cook dinner while MJ and Peter remained upstairs. She was sitting on Ned’s bed while Peter was on the floor continuing to build the Lego Death Star. 

“I’m going to give you some advice, Pete,” MJ started to say. Peter looked up at her in confusion.

“About what?”

“About [Y/N].”

His eyes started to wander around the room. “W-What about [Y/N]?”

“What do you think about her?”

“What do I think a-about her? What’s not to think, she’s sweet. She’s nice. She’s kind.”

“Those are synonyms.”

“She’s smart. God, she is so smart, and she gets my jokes and actually laughs at them and—”

“Yup. You like her.”

His face fell. “No… No… No~.”

“So should I call her for you?” She whipped out her phone and Peter panicked.

“Don’t!”

“Why not? You have got to talk to her.”

“I do talk to her.”

“Outside of school,” MJ specified. “I have her number if you want it.”

“No, she’ll find it weird if I text her out of nowhere.”

“So you’re going to continue staring at her when she’s not looking like a total creep?”

“I don’t… I don’t stare,” Peter mumbled. MJ rolled her eyes at his denial.

“You do,” she teased. “Look, I’m going to the restroom. Here’s my phone. Do whatever you’d like with it.”

If Peter was a creep, then MJ was a psychopath because who would let anyone use their phone so freely? He still took the device from her hands and waited until he was alone to tap your name in MJ’s messages. His heart was racing at the thought of having your number, but he didn’t feel ready for it. 

So… he did something else.

5:44 PM | MJ🖤: Hey 🙂

Yikes. He really was a creep.

5:45 PM | You 😇: Hi MJ! What’s up? Did y’all finish building the Legos?

Peter smiled to himself at your enthusiastic greeting. 

5:45 PM | MJ🖤: No, not yet. Ned left us to help with dinner. How are you?

Your next reply didn’t come as fast this time. Peter panicked, wondering if he said something weird. Then again, this whole situation was borderline crazy.

5:49 PM | You 😇: I’m doing my homework. It’s so boring. Wish I was with you all. 🥺

5:50 PM | MJ🖤: We wish you were here too. 💖

Peter saw the thought bubble with three dots pop up, eagerly waiting for your reply. 

5:50 PM | You 😇: Hey MJ… I have a question.

5:50 PM | MJ🖤: Go for it.

5:50 PM | You 😇: Who are you? Lol.

Shit. Shit. Shit. You knew. Oh my god, Peter’s life was over. He got up off the floor and started pacing around the room in panic. 

5:51 PM | You 😇: I know you’re not MJ… so either you stole her phone and I’m going to have to report you for identity theft or she let you use her phone. 

5:53 PM | MJ🖤 : Okay, it’s Peter. Don’t report me. 🥺

He held his breath for your next response, facepalming himself for getting caught so fast.

5:53 PM | You 😇: Peter, why are you pretending to be MJ? If you wanted to text me, I could’ve just given you my number. Haha.

5:53 PM | MJ🖤 : Wait, really? I’m sorry. Idk why I did that.😅

5:53 PM | You 😇: Yeah. Here’s my number XXX-XXX-XXXX. Please text me as yourself. Lolol. 

Peter had the biggest grin spread across his face as he fell onto Ned’s bed in relief. He couldn’t help but laugh at the situation. By some miracle he did it. He got your number… he actually got your number. 

“Why are you staring at my phone like a creepy serial killer?” He looked up to see MJ leaning against Ned’s door frame. 

“Uh… I got her number?”

“How?”

“... You’re going to kill me.”

[sammy-deserves-better]

Hey people who definitely didn’t follow me for my AUs here’s another AU I thought up on the spot!!!

Fantasy/Royalty AU bam lets get into it

Julia and Bowie are the princess and prince of the kingdom, as you do, it’s gay and lesbian hostility in that castle every day

Axel, Wayne, Raj and Emma are knights with Axel being the head of the knights, Emma is also secretly a florist because why not

Priya is the head of the guards while Caleb is the personal guard/advisor to the king

Chase is a travelling bard who loves to talk about his ‘amazing’ adventures of ‘helping’ people

Nichelle is still a famous actress but instead of movies she’s like, famous from plays and all that jazz

Ripper’s a barbarian that’s pretty good at his job, unfortunately he is not taken very seriously

Millie is a famous writer but she’s so damn difficult to find at times and only a few people know where she actually lives

Damien is a wizard’s apprentice, he’s still learning but he’s got some real talent within him

Zee is the court jester, he didn’t even like try out for the role he just started talking one time and the king thought he was hilarious

Scary Girl is a famous necromancer because she is, funnily enough, scarily good at her job

And MK, silly ol’ MK, is a master thief who is wanted all over the world, but can never be located, always managing to escape at the last moment

Alright here’s some more details yippee

Raj and Bowie are like, in love, obviously, knight x prince romance! Forbidden love that isn’t really forbidden but like it’s super cute and Raj is so smitten and Bowie just loves this handsome knight that would do anything for him

Wayne and Emma are friends here because I also think they’re silly, Wayne’s the only one who knows Emma’s secret florist job because she trusts him enough and also he accidentally found out but it’s fine!! But he also nearly gives away Emma’s secret so many damn times because he’s just a little bit stupid

‘Man I wish I could get Bowie a nice bouquet…’

‘Oh well Emma is actually a fl-‘

And then Wayne gets elbowed so hard he can’t breath for 2 minutes

Emma also definitely has a thing for the cute court jester but she has no idea on how to actually approach Zee so she just sends him flowers anonymously and sighs while looking at him lovingly

Julia and MK meet because MK climbs up the damn castle walls at 2am and sneaks into Julia’s room just to rob her, gets absolutely slammed by the princess, wakes up and is tied to a damn chair with Julia right up in her face about to rip her to shreds and all MK can say is ‘you are REALLY attractive oh my gods’

This throws Julia off, they start talking, Julia realises that despite the fact she is holding one of the most wanted criminals hostage in her room, she wants to keep seeing MK because she’s entertaining and mean and just slightly pathetic, so she lets MK go on the promise that the thief will come back every night and so she does and yadda yadda lesbians toxic yuri wins

Millie’s stories actually come to life because shocker she’s actually a wizard in disguise and she needs to be really careful about what she writes so that’s why she hides herself away and is so hard to track down because if the wrong people knew about her magic capabilities oh no that’s a lot of blood and injury and angst and 10k words every chapter

Millie’s parents also had this ability to create anything from mere writing, they shared this ability with the kingdom, and so if an important figure asked them to say…make a protector of the kingdom, they would do so, and they did, and that’s where our villain/antagonist comes in but that’s a story for another day

The older gens are also involved in this one way or another as well, most are just backgrounders but some hold important to the story

Damien is the wizard apprentice to Leonard and Tammy, two great and powerful sages who spend their time helping the world

DJ is the one who taught Emma how to be a florist, he’s kind and understanding and always helps Emma choose the right flowers to give to Zee

Eva trains Ripper under her watchful eye, she’s proud of how far he’s come, but feels he can do just a bit more

Aleheather are the king and queen of the kingdom, Bowie and Julia are their adopted children

And that’s all I got for now uhhhh add whatever you want to this it’s just a silly time

[samson-the-whale]

So ... I made a self insert fore WIR ....ya

:]

Name: Scrapper/scrap

Gender: male (this mf bisexual)

Age: in his game like 20s to 30s if we go with his game age like 30s or 40s 

Game: Scrapper's scrape up

(its like punch out game mechanics game play wies)

Character interactions:

 Hc he gets pumped up easily and likes to push people in the shoulder lightly but really fast when he needs to let out that excitement (t can be like a charging up a special move in his game) and might accidentally leave a bruise 

When he does it to Ralph it tickles 

When he punches Felix he says ow but then hammers his arm and it heals

When he did it to Calhoun for the first time she hit him across the room because she thought he was picking fights and fucking K.Od him with that bitch slap

Then was kind of apologetic after Felix explained and yelled "oh shoot sorry" then Scrap still laying in the floor gives a thumbs up and a strained "I'm ok...it's ok"

 Also if he did the punching thing with Vanelopie she would just pixilate a bit and his punches would almost go through her shoulder kinda I think much like Ralph it would also just tickle 

Ralph:

Before the whole plot of the movie I like to think Ralph liked him but was kind of bitter "he has huge fists and smashes stuff why am "I" the villain?" XD

Ok ok 

So he and Ralph actually get along surprisingly well for you know one being the main character of his game and supposed "heroes" of the game  and the other is well the bad guy. They both like punching stuff and hav a give each other a high five or fist bump while walking by each other so like buddys

Felix:

Him and Felix are more like 

Felix: look at this cool thin-

Scrap: HOLLY CARP CHECK THAT OUT

Like literally one of the doodle sketches was Scrapper leapfrogging over felix to look at a new plugged in game 

So he kinda is an annoying brat towards felix but always makes it in good fun like he's messing around with him with never an intent to hurt his feelings (even when he goes too far and accidentally does)

Vanelopie:

So now we got Vanelopie

There's actually this running joke sorta where scrapper really likes bright colors becus how I imagine his game has a very limited color palette except him for aesthetically pleasing reasons

So he'd actually stay away from brightly colored areas out of comfort before becoming more enthralled in other colors hens his fixation with casualty visiting sugar rush when he's bored 

You may think oh then he must have met Vanellope while visiting 

Well actually no he bye dumb luck he never met her until after the events of the first movie 

So there knowing each other isn't really that strong yet 

But because of him and ralph eventually becoming friends he grew a liking to the spunky little girl calling her shortstack all the time (despite him being a similar height) and or squirt

In response Vanellope calls him oled man

Calhoun:

 Calhoun thinks he's like 12

He is not he's like 30-40 Like lectures him on his fighting form Thinks he's like inexperienced Finds him endearing if a little overbearing Finds his high energy useful in certain situations but exhausting at other times Is unsure...which fighting game he originates from Then bonding through duty or honor or avenging a loved one.

Sour bill (because I want more interactions and im hiperfixsaiting):

Scraper:Yoooooo a fellow rubber ball

Sour bill:what?

 Ima say this shit now they would drink tea together because yes Scrapper doesn't like coffee he drinks tea

Sonic (because I can):

Mf cameos in scrappers game in later levels for no reason just because funny

It's like the meme

Scrapper: sonic? What are you doing here?

Sonic in scrapper's game: waiting for them to play Gangdemstyle 

Ok so I forgot to put this in I was ryly hoped to post this but thanks to my friend @im-not-important fore spell correcting and helping come up with ideas(also did some of the Blu doodles in the Wight board drawings)

[andradrawsstuff]

Finally got back to my drawing tablet so here’s Otto 🦦

He’s a Dr Blowhole henchman I came up with bc I thought it would have been cool to see more villains

Some stuff I thought of

He’s an unhinged North American river otter with slight murderous intent

Fun fact, otters can be pretty sadistic and kill for the thrill so I think it would fit his character (also going for the classic scary dreamworks villain style oop)

Otters are also pretty strong and they’re hunters, so I think it would be pretty neat to have his fighting style be all claws and teeth rather than kick and punch, which is what the penguins are used to

So he’d be one of the first villains that can put up a proper fight against them and give em a good ol’ scare, since they never rlly had a villain that outmatched them before (would create some great internal conflict for the little guys, especially for Skipper who’s mr always wins)

Since Marlene is also an otter I feel like she could put up a good fight against him bc she’d have a similar fighting style (although she’d be reluctant to hurt anyone but I mean she’d defo do it when someone’s trying to ctrl alt delete her friends, especially late-show Marlene who joins them on missions more frequently and starts taking after them a bit)

Also notice their contrasting colour palettes, it’s on purpose haha I love character design

Uhhh that’s it for now I think lmao

[faux-parenchyma]

[Winter Drop and Story of the Illagers video talk below]

Now that the initial hype has been settled over the creaking and the winter drop [not really, I'm actually exploding over it] I really want to step back and just consider how the context of the Minecraft world here is changing. I find it so incredibly interesting how a new Minecraft lore video was posted about one of the mobs to be absolutely TERRIFIED of the Creaking shortly after its announcement - the illagers

I've been messing around in my experimental world, found a lovely patch of the pale garden absolutely surrounded by dark forest, only to find a big ol woodland mansion posted up a few blocks from this little border. And I could not just stop thinking like!! Imagine the illagers, living out in the dark forests due to their sickness and post-war riddled minds, having to just constantly think 'hey! remember to avoid this one teensy patch of spooooky forest! it'll kill you!!' The pale garden clearly is on the defense to keep itself alive, I've mentioned that before in a post about it's living ancient ecosystem, but something about their avoidance just makes the illagers feel more human rather than villainous. Like the recent Illager lore video states: they're sickly, they may like to tend to gardens, have an affinity for building totems, monuments, learning magic and transfiguring themselves, like that's all so inherently passive if you leave out the fact that they are 'aggressive' mobs. But just like the creaking, they attack when you approach, you as the PLAYER perceive them as the bad guys. I'd believe they too would have reasons to be defensive whether we know why exactly or not. I'll cook more with illager lore later I need to add this to my list of lore fanon bits to yap about- yall definitely wanna ask me for my thoughts on lore and let me cook on this i promise /lh.

I dunno, I just think as the game moves forward, there will be more substance to this entire region of worlds, more connective lore and whatnot. They did mention in the new video that we should expect to see more illager related things in the future. I do hope we get some sort of fixed up dark forest, for my own sake. In general, things are getting so much bigger, and yet everything small is slowly shifting along with it. and I definitely think that's in a good way.

[solar-tl-27]

OH HEY WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT I’M BACK

Yall never get regular posts from me omg you guys I’M SO SORRYYYY

but but but but but ya’ll wont believe it

I have been… DOING ART?! youuuuu heard that right folks i me MYSELF AM d-doing art.

Ok soooo i got a few updates

Life is still incredibly hectic i swear i feel like one of those fanfic writers tha5 post like

Hey sorry it took 8 years i was in a coma! But thankfully that’s not… entirely the case?

I’m on the list for an appointment to see if i have adhd because hearing my friends who are diagnosed and medicated talk about literally MY EXACT ISSUES AND IT HELPING i was like… damm maybe it is the good ol case of audhd … so hopefully hopefully i can get something to help with that!

Uhhh in other news I’m saving for a laptop so i can get into video editing and idk make some animation memes and animatics!

But ofcourse

Ofcourse

I promised art let’s not dwindle any more!

First of all we have some art i did for my story quest for the moon (i did blur out a bit just cuz well idk my audience that well so i’ll be bluring it even though it takes away a bit of context)

Then another piece for that series and then… omg.. no way is that?! Is it?!

Hehe surprise let’s get into the first art!

3 GOT ANOTHER REDESIGN AND MIGUELS’S FIRST FULL ART

Welcome welcome to my sweet sweet sweet baby angel boy Three that’s right he’s been on my mind again so i drew him… kinda like a splash art? If he was in a gacha game very cute very demure (if that meme’s old already… no it’s not)

And then we have THE VILLAIN of quest for the moon

Miguel also our main character ash in the corner hiiii ash

Miguel is basically like the mentor that’s secretly just try to steal your powers type he’s very much an opportunist and i love to draw him and loooove to hate him! This piece is basically foreshadowing extravaganza that will… eventually be clear i swear I promise I PROMISE but for now enjoy the piece it took sooo long

Next art!

This is still a work in progress it’s not done yet but I’m incredibly proud of it soooooo I’m showing it anyway and then we’ll get into the surprise

MEET MY SON ALEXANDER

ohhh my goodness after being in art block for so long it feels so nice to just get a solid redes out i’m soooo happy with how he’s turning out AA that’s my son MY BOY one of my oldest oc’s from so so so so long ago and fun fact i drew both pieces with the exact same brush heheheh the headshot next to him is his brother phoenix

Ok NOW FOR THE SURPRISE

Guess what! That’s right i have actually ACTUALLY started finding my way into the new project reignited

That’s right we got a MAIN CAST now

Now obviously some are.. easy to find the original inspiration for but they won’t be that similar to the redesigns they used to be no no no

Welcome the new crew of project reignited!

Muse, Plume, Thea, Orianne & caelusss

Muse is the main character a human boy who is just trying his best who gets swooped up into helping a dragon girl save her kingdom and the magical dimension while also fighting to preserve his home town!

Plume a dragon girl (plume, bloom you get the gist) who somehow ended up on earth is now tasked to find help to save her people and mother while also discovering the beauty of earth

Thea the daughter of an urban development company ceo and the love interest of muse (did i get myself this invested into a ship that i made it canon here… yes.) she’s a frail girl but is forced to step in as her fathers ideas turn from helpful to greedy and destructive

Orianne Thea and Muse’s friend and the more motherly of the group but faced with difficult circumstances and changes in her life can cause her to lash out as her life is completely steered of its course by magic and her dad remarrying.

Caelus! Muse’s closest friend a pretty chill guy that works at an icecream parlour during the week and helps his family with their market food stand in the weekend, he really wants to be a culinary chef but doesn’t know if he can truly achieve his goals in his hometown.

That’s the gang this will from now on be an original concept and no longer a winx rewrite yes winx will be an inspiration for this work but i do not intend to go the fairy route nor make the world building as big as i had made it in my rewrite… what you will see is me taking my rewritten work as a basis for this story considering i have basically rewritten my version of domino, zenith and solaria from scratch sooooo SWEET BABY BOY CRYOS MY BABY will be making a return later on in this story he’s mine he’s my son my boy i can do with his character whatever i pleaseeee ok ty

That’s the update that’s the post thank you all for enjoying my content and my terrible upload schedule life had beeeeeen hectic ty ty hope ya’ll stay for more and if this was your first post of mine you saw…. Check out my other work pls and thank u

Oki

BYEEEEE

[recreationalfanfics]

Yandere Adventurer vs. Yandere Femme Fatale Drabble

Based off of these Yandere Adventurer and Yandere Femme Fatale Hcs. Big Question: Which one of them could get it?

You watch in shock as your co worker is being held by two officers, tears running down his face as he SWEARS he hadn't stolen those artifacts, but his pleas fell onto deaf ears. Your standing in front of the University doors, watching as everything went down along with everyone else, and unsure of what to make of the situation. It had been such a perfectly normal morning too, you and Richard talking about things from favorite historical events, to the most ridiculous ones that sound too unhinged to be real yet they actually happened. Then the police barged in, accusing him of stealing one of the relics that went missing when Jesse brought them back.

Jesse Reeves was an amazing human being, in your eyes. Not only was he smart (depending on the situation), he was a charming yet brave and daring man who had been to all types of places. Searching for lost treasures in the most wild parts of the world, stopping villainous plots and organizations in the Artic, and even discovering lost ruins in the deepest parts of the oceans. Now, he held the not-so-impressive title of being your best friend after meeting him during a grand opening of a new exhibit he brought back for the University.

You don't know how you became friends with someone as amazing as him but you weren't complaining! And you thought you had a friend in Richard but now, as you watched him vehemently try to deny stealing the artifacts and get shoved into a cop car, yelling and kicking and trying to break open the window with his shoulder, you weren't sure what to think of him.

Jesse, on the other hand, leaned against the brick wall entrance with his arms crossed, and wearing a smug grin on his face.. When Richard saw him, his eyes were filled with betrayal but soon flared with anger as he yelled muffled cusses towards the blonde man, but no one could hear him. Nevermind believe him that THE Jesse Reeves would steal something from the museum when he had loyally been bringing back relics for them for ages, nevermind to frame a boring old co-worker like Richard who hasn't even worked a full month at the university. Yes, no one would believe Richard if he told them, but they really should've.

With a taunting wave, Jesse then stood up straight and walked over to you, reverting to his more bubbly personality as he stood next to you.

"Now, what in the wide world happened here?" He asked, a very convincing clueless look on his face.

- Yandere Adventurer now realizes the full extent of his feelings for you after that stupid co-worker is away and taken care of. He doesn't just love you, he's completely enamored by you! Out of all the treasures in the world, you're the most precious one he's come across, and he's decided that he wants to keep you to himself.

- Yandere Adventurer does get annoyed when you say that you'll miss Richard though. Why? Yeah, he might've lightened your workload but that was just about all he was useful for, at least, in Jesse's eyes he was.

"I mean, I didn't expect HIM to have been behind the theft. He seemed genuinely excited to work here." You wondered aloud, still unsure what to think about the events that transpired in the early morning.

"I bet he was, probably 'cuz he was fixin' to get his fingers on those artifacts." Jesse suggested, a bit of a scowl on his face. You assumed its because he's upset that he had such a hard time finding the thief only for it to be revealed it was someone who worked in the same department as the both of you. However, that wasn't why he was scowling. He just wished you'd talk about anything OTHER than Richard but, no, it turns out that bum was still on your mind, "Look, darlin', maybe we should think about something else besides good ol' Richie. Somethin' like...my next adventure."

You groan when you hear that, "Shit, I forgot! You're going to leave for Venezuela next week! Which means I'm handling the archives by myself again...and Richard just started reorganizing the documents too!"

Stop talking about him already.

"Actually, ya might not have to worry about the archives for a while there," Jesse began with a playful smile. Raising a curious eyebrow, you tilt your head a little, "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean...I've been thinking about it and I was wondering if ya might wanna go adventuring with me this trip," Your expression changes and he can see the hesitancy in your eyes, "NOW! NOW! It ain't gonna be as long as my other adventures and it might not be as dangerous but even if it was, I wouldn't let anything bad happen tah ya! S'just, you know, I like my adventures and I like you...so it'd just...it sure would make my day if ya at least considered it!"

You bit your lip anxiously and looked to the side. You were a historian but you were more of the "doing research on the computer in an air controlled environment" kind of historian, not the kind that went through death traps in nearly collapsing temples that had ancient curses on them. Like Jesse was.

However, the hopeful look in his sky blue eyes makes you feel guilty. You want to deny his offer but could you, in good conscience, dim that glow in his eyes. In fact, Jesse was COUNTING on that. You were too much of a sweetheart to let him down and Jesse knew that not even you were able to resist his charm.

"C'mon, it'll be like a vacation! You'll get tah see so many different waterfalls, tons o' great good, an' you'll get tah get a little up close and personal with history! Shoot, we can both have our names on the discovery plague an' everythin'! Wouldn't that be cool?"

"Jesse, I-"

"Both of you, in my office. Now." The headmaster of the University, and your boss, interrupted.

Even if you never saw eye to eye with him before, you were happy that he had intervened now and went with him. Jesse, however, was less than pleased. Still he followed along with you into the hallway, although there was a scent that hung in the air, one that smelled eerily familiar to him.

Yandere Femme Fatale who had been stalking you for a while, actually. Not long enough to know you were friends with her former flame but enough to memorize your schedule by heart and enough to fall deeply in love with you.

She had applied for the job of Archivist assistant, only to be enraged when she found out someone else was chosen. Oh well, she could just plan out their death but first things first, she'll have to kill the employer who had put a hit on you in the first place. The reason why this guy wanted you dead?

Apparently he couldn't take rejection well.

It sickened Yandere Femme Fatale, the way how entitled men think they could have whoever they wanted just because they inherited some pocket money from daddy. Don't worry, darling, she'll make sure you'll never have to worry about them now that she's there.

"Jesse, (Y/n). This is Scarlette Le Claire, she will be the new Archivist assistant."

Jesse froze up upon hearing her name. You, however, were entranced by the woman sitting in one of the seats facing the principals desk. She was applying lipstick to her plush lips when her dark eyes noticed you from her compact mirror. She shut it before standing up.

God, she was tall and even more gorgeous.

She extended a gloved hand in front of you, one you were nervous to take because of how expensive it looked, but you didn't want to be rude.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you." She greeted warmly, her voice sounding like honey to your ears and God, she smelled so nice.

Jesse, however, was far from entranced. He knew personally that wherever that woman went, someone was bound to get hurt. Misery and death followed her wherever she went and he wasn't gonna let any of that touch you. He also was uneasy about the look in her eyes, he recognized it from all the times she chose money over him. Greed. Insatiable greed that will never be enough for her.

He didn't like that she was looking at you like that.

"Now, (Y/n), I'm going to need you to step outside with me. Since you'll need to train Ms. Le Claire."

You're too hypnotized by the woman in front of you that you don't respond or react, at least, not until Jesse whistles to capture your attention. With a confused "huh?", you turn and look at him and he points to the door where your boss was waiting rather impatiently. You apologize and run out, taking one last look at the woman and giving her a sheepish smile. The moment you walk out the door, Jesse is glaring her down.

"Got' a lotta nerve coming here, Scarlette. If ya got a problem with me, we can settle it elsewhere."

Scarlette rolled her eyes and fluffied her hair, making sure it looked good for when you came back.

"Oh, don't be so dramatic, Jesse. Not everything is about you." She scoffs. Jesse narrows his eyes and walks up to her, "Then who is it about?"

Scarlette's eyes flicker towards the door, where she can see your silhouette talking and nodding. Then she looks back at Jesse, who didn't even have to look back to see who she was looking at.

"You ain't laying a hand on (Y/n), ya hear?"

"And what if they come to me willingly?"

"They won't." Jesse argued, not really believing in his own words. He saw how you looked at her, the way you looked at him the first night he met you.

Scarlette didn't respond, she simply smiled as her eyes flickered towards the door again, patiently waiting for when you'd come back in. After being informed that you'd have to train Scarlette, Jesse's offer to Venezuela immediately went to the back of your mind as you excitedly told her you'd show her around. She hooks her arm with yours, not even bothering to pay attention to Jesse anymore.

Like she said, this wasn't about him.

This was about making you hers.

[queer-ragnelle]

I read for spoilers for The Bright Sword, it sounded self indulgent -- The Lady of the Lake is the girlfriend of unprepossessing OC, fix-it for King Arthur but also colonialism is bad... am I picking up the right vibes or should I just read it and form my own view? 😂

Hi anon! I'm going to put my longer answer under a cut since the book is still really new and people may want to avoid spoilers. But firstly, all good stories are self indulgent. Writing for the market is dead, writing for yourself is thriving! So that never deters me from any book or movie. Please do some whacky stuff, I love it! Secondly, I encourage you to ignore bad faith spoilers that only offer criticism without any bright sides. (See what I did there?)

The Bright Sword has the kindest portrayal of Sir Palomides ever written and that means something to me!! It should mean something to anybody invested in the Arthurian literary tradition, I think, as it's been a long time coming. It’s no small thing. I really enjoyed the main cast—Bedivere, Palomides, Dinadan, Dagonet, Nimue, Morgan, Constantine, and OCs Collum and Scipio—they’re all wonderful in their own ways! They're queer, dealing with mental illness, disability, all sorts of things I've wanted from Arthurian retellings for years and haven't gotten in a satisfactory way. I bought the book for those characters and Lev Grossman delivered!

TL;DR I recommend the book! There was more done right than wrong. I shared lots of samples on tumblr and in my Arthurian Theater Server as I read along so people could make their own judgement based on the text itself, and they also liked it.

So my longer answer is—I thoroughly enjoyed the first 30/40 chapters. I couldn't put it down! I was reading at work!! After 31 it crashed and burned a little. There were still a handful of flashback chapters to "the good ol' days" between 31-40 that I also liked, but didn't care for the main post-Camlann conflict resolution, unfortunately.

However, I think I understand how Lev Grossman ended up there. In his Author's Note he stated his inspirations—Mary Stewart, Bernard Cornwell, and Nicola Griffith. And in his Reddit AMA the other day, he said it took him 10 years to write The Bright Sword. I believe all of this culminated in a bit of a disconnected story, as the ending seemed to blindside me. Let me explain.

In Bernard Cornwell’s Warlord Chronicles trilogy, Lancelot is a huge piece of shit from the start. Cornwell’s clearly an Arthur enjoyer. I don’t prefer that approach, but I respect it, and I love Cornwell’s writing. His main character, Derfel, was also plainly a huge inspiration for Grossman’s Collum. That’s a good thing! What I didn’t enjoy was The Bright Sword seeming to shift gears suddenly near the end and make Lancelot out to be a villain that didn’t feel sufficiently foreshadowed. Prior to that, he felt much more like Mary Stewart’s poet-eyed Bedwyr (a hybrid with Lancelot) or Nicola Griffith’s sweetly awkward Lancelot, only to turn around and, literally, snap. BOOM! Cornwell’s garbage-tier Lance. [Insert “He would not fucking say that!” meme here.]

Now regarding Nimue: in Stewart's series, Ninian is with Merlin and then later marries the Fisher King. In Cornwell's series, Derfel is a childhood friend of Nimue and eventually her lover. And in Griffith's book, Peretur ends up with Nimue. So Ninian/Nimue has a long tradition as a spouse/lover of other characters and I enjoyed all of those examples. In The Bright Sword, she was a badass the entire novel, fighting in the battles with intense magic, and she even got her own pov chapters. I liked Collum well enough, he's not my favorite Arthurian OC, but I definitely didn't hate him! His back story was a little eye-roll worthy and his infatuation with Nimue was meh at times, but he’s literally 17 leaving home for the first time. That tracks. It’s not a deal breaker for me by any stretch. Cursed (2020) is where the worst Lady of the Lake romance is at. Nimue/Arthur with some weird shoehorned Gawain love triangle thing? Blech. Get it away from me. It can always be worse!

As a known Arthurian OC enjoyer, I’ll go on record in defense of Collum. He’s fine and characters like him are often paired with canonical characters. I much prefer Nimue end up with someone her own age, whether it be Pelleas or an OC, than stay with Merlin. And The Bright Sword goes to great lengths to show that Merlin is a creep and Nimue a victim who was in the right to bind him in the cave. So this didn’t bother me that much at all.

As far as "fix-it" King Arthur and colonialism bad, not sure what you mean by that. Arthur is dead. That's literally the plot. Did you mean writing Arthur as a decent husband to Guinevere in flash backs? Lots of books and films have done that already, Lev Grossman isn't the first to write Guinevere in love with her husband and an Arthur who is on-par or even better than Lancelot. Personally I prefer when it's balanced but this isn't new or noteworthy. Now, obviously colonialism is bad. That’s the point of King Arthur—the Saxons are colonizers he expels. Not sure what point the spoilers you saw were trying to make there. But it’s irrelevant since The Bright Sword doesn't touch on colonialism very much. Palomides travels west from Baghdad after hearing outlandish stories about Camelot but none of his friends have ever encountered westerners before and they have wildly inaccurate ideas. So Palomides wants to go there and write a book about it (which he does). There’s no talk of the west reaching east from his perspective, and the Saxons are moot, as the focus is a land in want of a king after Arthur’s death, not expelling the Saxon invaders. Could the spoilers have meant monarchy? I don't think anyone is reading Arthurian Legend, which is strictly fantasy, to dismantle the monarchy (or the crimes committed by real life monarchies, such as colonialism). Fantasy, and by extension Arthurian Mythology, is not true to life in any stretch. So that feels like an unfair criticism to make of the genre, even when it takes historical inspiration.

But anyway yes I think you should read the book for yourself! I always advise reading a book before passing judgement. Sometimes a trusted friend will read a book and tell you, knowing best what you like, that it’s not for you. That’s all well and good. But I generally don’t trust the internet’s opinions at large. Much better to feel it out on your own time. I’d love to hear from you again once you’ve read it! Let me know! Have a great rest of your weekend. :^)

[neoninky]

TWST Shenanigans: League of Antagonists (and some actual Villains)

I'm back with another long winded, stupid thought that I may draw some day but in the mean time, here's this lol (also spoilers for my Sacred Crown fics if you haven't read them?? Just FYI)

Scene: Antagonists from canon TWST side events all hang out in a bar and talk about how they fucked with the main characters for reasons unknown

Ashton Vargas: *reminiscing about the Camp Vargas event(s)* HA HA Man you should have seen their faces! We gave those punks a good ol' fashion trauma haunt in the woods. Classic. Divus Crewel: And we looked damn good doing it too. *Camp Vargas Part 1 and 2 Crewel definitely made those costumes* Vargas: Sigh...of course we got a temporary dock in pay to help provide the whimpier ones with therapy sessions but eh totally worth it. Random group of fairies all sharing a bar stool: *makes a bunch of tinkly noises talking about the Fairy Gala* Translation: That's cool but we almost ruined the entire school's ecosystem because we gave into our baser instincts and stole the mage stone cuz it was shiny... damn those kids for crashing our party with their incredibly well made outfits and near flawless sashays (Crewel: I would be more upset if not for the fact I finally got Kingscholar to have proper posture for at least 14 hours.)

Ghost Princess Eliza: *still boohooing over the Ghost Marriage event though technically she is happily married in the end* I just wanted to marry my perfect prince after years and years and YEARS of waiting!! What's a little first-degree murder in the name of true love?! (Fairies: damn gurl / Crewel: that's a mood.) And those horrible boys just kept coming to ruin my wedding! Accosting me with their unprincely behavior! What kind of man doesn't have a legendary sword or a faithful dog that comes at his beck and call?! (Vargas: she does make a good point...) Oh well, in the end, I did find my real prince so it all worked out. We'll be returning for the baby shower they promised to host! (Crewel: the school and every person on campus has at least three restraining orders against you...) - jaunty music suddenly starts playing out of nowhere and the entire room groans - Fellow Honest: *cane twirls his way on screen, ready to spill the deets on the Playful Land event* Trauma, theft, delusionally murderous courtship? That's cute. I suckered a whole group of those dumbasses into a human trafficking con disguised as a theme park! And I did it so well that I basically hijacked 90% of all social media for MONTHS while doing it! Everyone: *disgruntedly* we KNOW Fellow Honest: *much smug* Did I mention how I also cursed the whole place to turn them into wooden puppets if they broke the backward ass rule system I put in place as well? (Vargas: dude what the actual hell?) Sigh...and it would have all gone off without a hitch if it weren't for those damn kids fucking up the entire park (Crewel: our students are pretty much all assholes, yes.) ...I mean sure, in the end, I did tell my shitty boss to suck it and encourage those brats to do exactly that. But then they dared to extend a hand of friendship and understanding to ME?! Entitled, fancy boys with their fancy schmancy education *grumble grumble* Vargas + Crewel: *side-eye glance at each other at the mention of a shitty boss* ..... *both take long sips of their drinks*

Rollo: *appears with sudden intense mood change in the atmosphere* Hmph. I understand your contempt for those frivolous magic users completely... (Fellow: THANK you!) ...I invited a select few of them onto my campus under the pretense of uniting our schools in harmony and camaraderie. In actuality...I wanted to destroy them by taking away their magic and then wiping magic off the very face of the planet. Fellow Honest: ...ok well damn that's a bit harsh- *the group of fairies moves as far away from Rollo as possible*

Rollo: and I would have gotten away with it too. Had it not been for that Malleus Draconia *name said with such distain Rollo might as well be a friggin Batman villain* ...on the other hand, I did completely get away with it. Cuz they tried to guilt trip me by letting everyone believe I was this upstanding person who isn't capable of heinous acts. (Fellow: HA stupid) ...that is until karma bit me in the ass and then my childhood magical dragon friend that I don't absolutely abhor ended up bonding with the magical dragon that I hate with every fiber of my being... *talking about my OC in Her Devoted Throne hitting it off with Malleus lol* Crewel: To be fair, if watching your BFF get with your sworn enemy after you tried to commit mass genocide of magic is the worst thing to happen, you are one lucky bastard.

Rollo: Oh I'm barely as horrible as they are... *scene pans over to another group seated in the Really Fucked Up OC Villain section*

Queen Alva from Her Ivory Crown: I not only gaslighted and emotionally abused my own daughter into working herself to the bone to prove herself as the heir to my throne, I then threatened her and tried to take everything she fought for away from her the minute she had a meltdown and wouldn't marry the boy I picked out for her. Not to mention potentially damning my own Queendom by trying to deprive them of a far better queen than I in the future....now I'm divorced, shunned from society, and living alone in the countryside, forced to do my own housework *has to fetch her own fainting couch so she can dramatically swoon* Zehn Cavaliar, the 'boy' in question: ...yeah I wouldn't take no for an answer so hard that I harassed the crown princess into an Overblot state which could have killed her. I also attacked and injured her while she was in that condition. Her new boyfriend got all his friends to kick my ass before and after I lost everything.... *has the expression of someone going through a Vietname flashback* Don Muraeni from Her Lost Voice: *sitting in a large fish bowl on the counter as a shriveled up sea polyp* I literally paid and sometimes forced several women to bear my children - who I let abuse and murder each other all in hopes of earning my approval btw. I even killed a guy who owed me money and then took his wife and child, made said wife have another one of my kids - who I also abused and forced to do underhanded tasks through the majority of her childhood. I also tried to use my son to get at my sworn enemy after not shedding a single fucking tear after his brother was brutally murdered by said enemy...*stops to think* More child abuse. Collecting siren mermaids and forcing them to be sex workers. Trapping my wife for several years while letting her children believe she was dead....so yeah all that backfired horribly and now I'm trapped as this weird lil slug thing until I die. Or something. Ghost of Don Muraeni's right-hand guy, Proteus: I was a total creep who abused his power and was brutally murdered for it in the end. Also I stole magic from a defenseless, traumatized child. Everyone else: *staring at all of them in horror* .....JESUS CHRIST

Dark Fire is hot but Hell is hotter *sips tea*

Also tagging people for reasons @iscarlettappel @foxwitchaine @wysteriadelights @nuitthegoddess @victoria1676 @1ndigowitch

[theresattrpgforthat]

Hello! I read through the Wicked Ones rpg and really enjoyed it. Do you have any recommendations for games where you play as the bad guys? Preferably larger books.

THEME: Bad Guys

Hello friend! From monsters to villains to just plain ol’ bad dudes, let’s see what we got. I tried to stay away from one-page RPGs, but I can’t guarantee how long some of these books will be.

SLA Industries, 2nd Edition, by Nightfall Games.

In the World of Progress, the corporation SLA Industries rules all. Employing Operatives to enforce, extend and maintain their power base, SLA controls a multitude of worlds - industrial, franchise and resource - with planet Mort at its core. As Operatives execute the company’s will, new threats emerge through the cracks of the city walls, turning Downtown into a battleground.

You, the SLA Operative, are fighting for fame and fortune against a backdrop of a crumbling reality. Operatives feed the always-on televisions with a gaudy media of wall-to-wall death and dismemberment. Operative life is all about climbing the corporate ladder and earning sponsorship deals and notoriety along the way.

In SLA Industries, you’re not exactly villains, but you’re not good people either. You work for an evil corporation, in a world of evil corporations, and you’re extending their reach for a chance to climb the corporate ladder. SLA Industries is reminiscent of trad games in terms of its complexity; character creation consists of spending points to improve abilities, and you can improve some of your character abilities by introducing flaws in other areas. Because of the roots in its game design, I’d expect a longer book to read through here.

If you want to learn more about this game, you can check out the game review for it on Cannibal Halfling Games!

Seven Deadly Sirens, by Litza Bronwyn.

In this game, you play one of seven types of mermaids and roll with seven deadly sins to power your basic and special moves in order to summon ships, lure men to you, devour their hearts, and collect their treasures. Fun, flirty, indulgent, and a little chaotic, this game is perfect for a night of raucous debauchery or an afternoon of silly adventuring.

This game is definitely on the shorter side, but I really really like the idea of using seven deadly sins as your source of power. This game is Powered by the Apocalypse, so expect something interesting to happen even with every dice roll. Unlike common PbtA games, you pick from a communal list of moves to define your character, rather than picking a playbook. The core loop of this game will involve luring men off of boats, killing them and raiding the boats for treasure.

Here, there be Monsters! By Wendi Yu.

here, there, be monsters! is a rules-lite response to monster-hunting media from the monsters' point of view. It's both a love letter and a middle finger to stuff like Hellboy (and the BPRD), the SCP Foundation, the Men in Black, the World of Darkness games and the Urban Fantasy genre in general. It is an explicitly queer, antifascist and anti-capitalist game about the monstrous and the weird, in any flavor you want, not as something to be feared, but to be cherished and protected.

Play as a diverse crew of monstrous, anomalous or just generally odd beings, fighting against those who would use, abuse or even annihilate you. Create and populate your own supernatural underworld, abnormal gang and extra-dimensional haven. Hunt monster hunters! Punch nazi occultists! Eat the rich! Protect each other! Fight back! Here, there, be monsters!

This is 164 pages of monstrous fun, in which your characters are likely treated like bad guys by the society around them, even if they’re not really villainous themselves. It gives you a chance to revel in your monstrosity, with 100 pre-made character backgrounds for you to peruse. One content warning: there is quite a bit of art revolving about bodies, in various forms (this is a monster game, after all). This isn’t meant to detract from the work - in fact, it perfectly communicates the tone of the game - but it is something you should be aware of before you buy.

Blood and Sacrilege, by Tom Clark.

In a Dark Fantasy setting based on the Early Middle Ages of England (The Dark Ages), you play as a brood of vampires bent on toppling the humans’ reign over Brackenstow. Here you'll find a country ruled by mortals, with vampires lurking in the shadows of society. It wasn’t always this way though; vampires founded Brackenstow and after a hard fought war, lost it to the mortals they once enslaved. 

Nearly a century after the vampires were defeated, legal rights to the kingdom are still squabbled over by the country's self-proclaimed leaders while bishops and ministers fight for their own influential positions. The vampire threat looms on the horizon… But the power vacuum left by a leaderless kingdom has taken it's toll on the stability of the land, leading to civil unrest and the more immediate danger of war. 

Now, with humans on the brink of societal collapse, the vampires peer out from the dark, and the broods that have laid in wait for so many decades start to execute their long-laid plans.

This looks like a game still in the works, but it sure looks promising. As long-defeated creatures of the night, you see a chance to take back a kingdom you once owned. Forged in the Dark games are all about projects that the group has to work consistently at in order to succeed, so expect plenty to read, especially if it’s inside such an established setting.

Villainous Fucks, by Keganexe (@keganexe)

Villainous Fucks is a tabletop roleplaying game designed for 2-6 players, about doing petty crimes as The League of Villainous Fucks, and ruining the day of Superheroes and Cops alike (and truly what's the difference). Villainous Fucks runs on Spencer Campbells incredible LUMEN System, and is inspired by the best Villains across media. LUMEN is designed for quick, tactical combat, and Villainous Fucks dials it up to 11 for the best in zany comic book style action.

If you are interested in ruining the day of do-gooders in over-the-top comic book action, and if you like your combat to be satisfying and punchy, you want Villainous Fucks. Instead of skills, LUMEN uses approaches: how your character does something is more important than what exactly they do. Is your villain Brutal, Cunning or Quick? My favourite little tidbit from Villainous Fucks is the characters’ stance on Cops. Villains believe that All Cops are Bastards, and All Superheroes are Cops. If you like revelling in doing crimes, then this is absolutely worth checking out.

Games I’ve Recommended Before

Monsterhearts 2, by Avery Alder. (Teenagers with great monstrous potential)

Spire: The City Must Fall, by Rowan Rook & Decard. (You’re sympathetic terrorists, but you’re still terrorists.)

This former request that asked about playing mind flayers and similar monsters.

[parkcivanon]

WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE HOW HAPPY I AM RN AFTER READING UR SIMULATION FICOMG,,,,,,,,, Like !! After watching mc but it's a simulation, it has been my new hyperfixation alongside park civ but the thing is it doesn't have nearly as much content. God I wanted a fic so bad I literally scrolled through all 18 pages of park civ tag just to find a sim fic.... UNTIL I SAW UR FIC AND I WAS LIKE OMG A SIM FIC??!???? And I didn't even realize you were the park civ anon cuz I was in such a hurry to read and God it singlehandedly became my fav fic,,, like your writing style is so satisfying and the flow is AMAZING BUT my favorite part is definitely your characterization of simEvbo.... He's so angry but in such a evbo way I honestly think this is what he would have been if he had been more fleshed out in canon. The inner dialogue is great hehe I love him he's full of issues and desperately need therapy<3

Also normally im more of a evbo fan than a seavbo but the bit with simSeavbo's dynamic is *chef's kiss* you really scratched the itch I never knew I had in my brain here..

(in the interest of not having this post be unreadably long, the second ask as well as my response is under the 'read more'.)

ALSO ALSO,, I actually read most of your fics so after the simfic I decided to give the amongus au a go since I usually don't read smut but your writing is just so nice I needed more... I loved the setting and the characters esp clown pierce and AJ which is very unusual (I never rlly liked antagonists😭) but your characterization is by far my favorite. I never knew I needed a morally grey villain where they r evil but not in a flat evilevil way ykyk,.. AJ was honestly such a refreshing character since you def fleshed him out from canon! Same goes to clown pierce but he is def less evil and mysterious than in canon since I assumed he and the old man never has a fall out. Tbh I was actually expecting clown pierce to idk.. do something mischievously evil and villain worthy but instead he actually became quite nice?? And sweet?? Ok yea I definitely prefer your choice more now that I think about it

hellooo :). there are more sim fics? i couldn't find any others but i only gave the tags a cursory glance.

thank you! simulation evbo has quickly become one of my favourites because i am a wee bit of a sucker for the evil alternate self trope (as well as some good ol' religious theming...) he should go to therapy, but he'd probably end up giving the therapist a crisis.

i think on some level seavbo has a large impact on both parkour civilization evbo and simulation evbo, romantically or otherwise; seawatt is a significant character in both, to the point where it's difficult to begin to describe evbo without describing him in relation to seawatt (this is more of an issue with parkciv evbo.)

anyway, onto the next half of the ask; the among us au is honestly something i still think about. i think clownpierce's character in canon is heavily influenced by the severe isolation he experiences, and this is represented in the au by his reclusiveness at the start; evbo hardly manages to speak to him until nearly halfway through, i believe.

clown's character is extremely divergent and this is something i'm aware of: i was considering having him be worse, but having him as direct foreshadowing for seawatt's arc almost felt like divine inspiration, as well as having his grief and how he reacts to it be a parallel to evbo's; you'll notice both of them immediately isolate themselves, and both of them fall back on their work as escapism.

i wasn't expecting this response to be mostly about clownpierce, but: you'd be right in assuming they never fell out. their 'falling out' is moreso tied to the old man's literal 'falling out' from life. clownpierce is only an antagonist in the sense that he is intentionally a misleading character: having the main antagonist be one of 'the good guys' is a bit of a red herring, no? :)

aj's character was mostly extrapolation from seawatt's, and he exists as a direct foil to him for that reason. most of what he does is in direct opposition to what seawatt would do, and generally i've characterised him with that in mind. where seawatt would probably go out kicking and screaming he goes with a great deal of grace, and where he is needlessly cruel seawatt is gentle; though they share a good amount of traits too, the most notable probably being their sense of pride.

tl;dr: thank you for the compliments lol... sorry to use your ask as an excuse to talk about among us au's characters and how i decided to develop them in new context, but i'm not really. ty again! <3

[annymation]

How much have Magnifico and Amaya changed in Swap Au and what are the changes in their backstory (you mentioned that they also switched roles)? Does this mean that in Swap Au, the parallels between the villain and the hero are Amaya-Aster and Magnifico-Asha?

I WAS HOPING SOMEONE ASKED! THANK YOU SO MUCH I GET TO TALK ABOUT THESE FREAKS!!!

Alright, so in this swap au, it was pretty easy to imagine Star!Asha and Human!Aster, like, it's just them but Asha is more bubbly and optimistic while Aster is a bit more mature and realistic, nothing crazy... BUT THE ROYALS SWAPPING IS SO CURSED THE MORE I THINK ABOUT IT!

So let's talk about them one at a time:

Queen Amable the Sorceress

Backstory

Okay so for this to work, we'll change some things slightly. Amaya's backstory in this AU remains pretty much the same as Kow!Magnifico. Bla bla bla she wanted to be queen but didn't want to grant wishes and learning magic was too hard for her cause' her heart wasn't in it, badabim-badaboom her parents make a new heir.

However, this new sibling is not Florian, but oh don't worry, Florian will show up later. Swap Amaya had a sister, a sister named Harmona. You might remember her from the villains backstory I wrote way back. Originally Harmona was a mean girl that stole Amaya's boyfriend, but in this AU, Harmona is a good person, in fact, she's pretty much your typical Disney princess that wanted to study magic and one day become a good queen for Rosas

And a good queen she becomes indeed, leaving Amaya quite displeased for being casted out into the shadow of her little sister.

One day, a young man was found, passed out and floating adrift on a boat near the kingdom's shore.

Harmona ordered that he'd be brought to the castle at once, so she could help him with whatever he could need. Obviously the dude is our good ol' Swap Magnus

So Magnus explains he rather not talk about his past just yet, because it's oooh so traumatic, and all he wishes is to repay the queen's kindness by serving as her royal potion maker

Harmona agrees, seeing how her older sister seemed infatuated with the stranger

(Ya know, when you swap the genders it feels weird that Harmona is hooting for her sister to date this guy they just found at sea with no backstory, maybe I'm just looking too much into it but like, suddenly it's no longer a little sibling being a cool wingman and now it's more like "Wtf are you doing? He might be a sociopath" and indeed, he is)

Amaya fell head-over-heels for Magnus, but the guy just wouldn't reciprocate to her advances no matter what. But she knew the feelings were mutual.

Magnus admitted that indeed, he did love her, but to love means to hurt when that person is eventually gone, and that was a pain he didn't want to go through... Not again. (More on that in a bit)

But Amaya convinces him, saying they'll find a way to live happily EVER after. Saying he'll never lose her (lol and then years later she chases after Star!Asha into a storm and dies for a few minutes and he desperately brings her back to life, sacrificing his own youth lmao)

The two of them start dating, doing all that lovey dovey stuff like kissing, giving each other presents, plotting to kill her sister, baking cookies, all that good stuff.

1 year later and Harmona is dead.

Amaya rises to the throne, now with a magic staff she obtained in a quest. And after some practice with Magnus, she knows how to appear a lot more kind hearted and charismatic in the eyes of the public. Soon the two are nicknamed Queen Amable and King Magnifico (I considered renaming them different things so it's not so confusing but I can't think of anything, sorry)

Personality

The queen is a very passionate about giving her people everything they need, she's dramatic and has a larger than life personality. I know I've always said Kow!Amaya was inspired by Mother Gothel, but swap!Amaya here has that Gothel mannerisms to the MAX, like she's full on breaking into song here and there and cracking jokes that may be a lil bit passive aggressive if you pay close attention to what she's saying.

She has a bit of a temper that she does her best to keep under control when in public, but she's also very calculating, not letting her emotions take too much control over her.

She becomes more and more vicious as the story progresses, being absolutely ruthless in her pursue for Asha's magic and finding great joy in making Aster suffer along the way

I'll just let this image speak for itself

Appearance

Ooooh boy that's the best part! Pinterest here I come!

Alright, so first thing's first, in this Au Amaya is older than her husband, and unlike him, she doesn't like drinking youth potions, they taste horrible and cause a lot of pain before taking effect, so she let's herself age a lil bit, after all she is aging like a fine wine.

In conclusion, her hair is white.

And like Kow! Magnifico, she wears no crown, her hair IS her crown

How is her hair you may ask?... It's shaped like a rose

I can't quite decide if she'd have a rose on top and loose hair that give more of a elf vibe or if she'd have a rose shaped bun that give more of a bride vibe, ya'll decide in the comments

Her dress would be tones of white and gold.

King Magnifico the Warlock

If you play D&D like me you might have gotten all giddy seeing that tittle, thinking Mag made a pact with an evil entity or something, but nah, sorry, I'm just calling him "Warlock" cause' that's the male equivalent of a witch

Backstory

On Kow!Amaya's backstory, I was inspired by the greek myth of Persephone and Aphrodite fighting to win the affection of Adonis, but ultimately Adonis preferred Aphrodite.

But with Swap!Magnifico, I'll be taking inspiration from a certain other myth. The myth of Apollo and his lover Hyacinthus.

In the myth, Hyacinthus was a beautiful spartan prince, so beautiful, that he attracted the attention of not just one but TWO gods: Apollo god of the sun, music and prophecy, and Zephyr, the west-wind. However, Hyacinthus fell in love with Apollo first, which made Zephyr quite jealous. So jealous, that he went the "If I can't have you, no one can" route and straight up murdered Hyacinthus.

So yeah, you might already imagine where I'm going with this. So enough with the greek mythology class and let's go to Magnus version

Magnus was a young man that lived in a simple village in Greece, but he desired more in this life, to make a difference and help others

So, he started studying potion crafting, to heal the ill and rejuvenate the old, offering to help all of those in need. However, Magnus felt like the people didn't actually love him for who he was, they only wanted favors from him. He wondered if he'd ever meet someone that loved him for who he was

That's when our boy Hyacinthus shows up, but I'mma just call him Ryan for short.

So Magnus and Ryan fell deeply in love. But oh no, someone else is also in love with Ryan, can you guess who it is?.......... Yeah it's Florian, told ya we'd see him later

Florian was overtaken by jealousy, and decided that if he couldn't have Ryan no one else would.

One day, Manus and Ryan are partaking in a game of throwing a metal discus the highest they can. Florian takes this opportunity and once the discus falls in a place that they can't see, he steals it, hides behind some bushes while the couple is looking for their discus, and BONCS the metal discus right on Ryan's head, killing him.

Magnus did not see who the heck threw the discus. Consumed by grief, he locked himself away from the world for days, to mourn the death of his lover, but it didn't take long for people to come asking for more potions, more favors.

Magnus knew that whoever killed Ryan was in that village, he had no way of knowing who, but he knew one thing, they were all rotten, ungrateful pests that deserved a fate worse than death. Consumed by his wrath, he began to architect a plan.

So the gay go do crimes.

Magnus poisons their crops, thus cursing all the villagers, including Florian.

He sails off, running away from the few people that didn't get cursed, and later ends up lost at sea, until he's found by some sailors of Rosas. And the rest you already know.

Personality

So Magnifico in this AU functions as a calming and supportive husband for Queen Amable, though, although he's very gentle with her, his way of calming her is very... Unhinged.

Like, let's say Amaya is stressed because they can't find those dang kids, Magnus reaction to this is being like "Aww my darling, don't fret, I promise you as soon as they fall in our grasp I shall use my potions to turn their bones into mush, make their blood boil like hot oil, and we shall rejoice as we listen them pathetically shriek in pure, delicious agony" and he says all that in the sweetest voice you've ever heard.

He's like, an evil henchman, but that is actually competent, even though sometimes he can get a bit silly, which is very dangerous, don't get near him when he's getting the sillies

Honestly I might be more afraid of this version of Magnifico than the normal one, because the normal one at least has a fun showsman personality, this one just stays quiet most of the time in the background smiling menancingly, that is when he's not pretending to be nice to Aster, acting almost like a father figure, or showing his totally unhinged true nature. Terrifying.

Eh here's a meme for him too, it's basically their couple dynamic:

Appearance

Magnifico with a crown is cursed, but oh well, let's see what I can find on Pinterest

Alright, so straight up, he has Chris Pine's hair from the D&D movie. And he wears a relatively simple crown

His clothes are tones of white and blue with hints of yellow, taking some inspiration from greek clothing styles.

He wears the hood of his cloak often.

OKAY this took a while to write, but it was really fun imagining these alternate versions of the characters! Hope you liked them.

[chipen]

He slowly drags himself up from where he was laying in bed, not-so-gracefully situating himself in Tomura's lap, though he doesn't make an effort to connect their gazes, instead looking away almost bashfully, ashamed of himself for wanting something, for not just taking what he's been given and being grateful. "You've been busy." Kai whispers, opening his mouth as if he intends to continue, but nothing comes out. Isn't he pathetic? Wasting Shigaraki's time as if he was worth even the audience he was being afforded, now. He swallows a breath, and tries again. "I missed you." He settles on, letting out a heavy sigh. "I do not...like missing you." / @eclipsemuses

MOMENTS  OF  REST  DO  NOT  HALLMARK  the  wealth  of  shigaraki's  existence.  for  as  long  as  his  fractured  mind  could  remember,  rest  has  been  disturbed  by  anxiety,  fragments  of  nightmares,  and  the  cogs  of  scheming  that  would  not  allow  him  peace.  couple  that  with  the  occasional  bouts  of  chronic  pain,  midnight  gaming,  and  then  the  inevitable  wealth  of  fucked  sleep  schedule  and  unending  work  that  came  with  his  position,  well.  tomura  slept  when  he  could,  where  he  could,  and  what  should  have  been  restful  nights  where  interrupted  by  numerous  things  -  whether  it  be  the  urge  to  work,  a  call  for  his  aid,  or  pleading  lips  at  the  shell  of  his  ear.  the  grand  commander  did  not  have  a  routine  so  much  as  he  would  often  find  himself  in  similar  situations  at  night  -  falling  into  bed  beneath  gifted  metal  hands  and  sinking  his  teeth  into  the  delightfully  pale  flesh  of  the  once  vicious  mutt  he'd  leashed  into  supplication.  mouth  that  had  once  oozed  vitriol  and  contempt  bleeds  forth  hungry  delights  instead,  silky  baritone  soft  at  tomura's  whims  -  and  oh,  the  villain  knew  how  to  play  his  toys  so  very,  very  well.  over  the  period  of  time  of  kai  chisaki's  induction  as  tomura's...  personal  project,  he'd  become  many  things,  the  most  blatant  of  which  being  :  well  used,  and  well  loved.

in  the  afterglow,  he  lets  the  former  yakuza  rest  upon  his  chest,  dozing  here  and  there  with  a  strong  arm  about  his  body.  as  always,  he's  ever  careful  with  five  fingers,  but  indulges  enough  with  the  sleeve  to  coil  his  digits  in  the  silken  mess  of  his  companion's  hair  -  until  restlessness  drives  him  from  the  warm  sheets  and  towards  his  desk  -  only  a  few  feet  away  from  his  (  their  )  bed.  shigaraki  doesn't  even  bother  booting  up  his  pc  -  and  settles  for  the  good  ole  fashioned  paper  files  this  time,  easy  to  decay  when  done  with,  and  no  doubt  swept  away  by  the  little  maid  that  followed  him  everywhere.

for  all  his  troubles  -  kai  was  still  a  yakuza,  still  moved  like  one.  tomura  likely  wouldn't  detect  him  had  he  not  felt  that  strange  tug  of  completion  at  the  elder's  proximity  as  he  slips  into  his  lap,  lean  frame,  though  taller,  somehow  ensconced  in  the  commander's  warmth.  sharp,  crimson  gaze  peers  through  the  mess  of  snowy  waves,  and  he  can't  help  but  hum.  two  fingers  reach  outwards,  caressing  over  the  shell  of  kai's  ear,  and  brushing  just  a  bit  of  dark  hair  away  from  those  bright,  golden  eyes  as  he  did  so.  it  was  a  fond  touch  -  but  it's  always  hard  to  tell  what  tomura  is  thinking,  and  he  was  as  mercurial  as  the  winds  in  many  regards.  predictable  -  but  blustery.

❝ aw,  are  you  feeling  needy? ❞  he  mulls  the  words  over,  and  they're  not  quite  patronizing  -  but  definitely  a  tease,  especially  as  four  fingers  curl  around  kai's  hip,  keeping  him  steady  in  his  lap  while  he  nudges  the  former  yakuza's  cheek  with  his  nose  -  a  silent  demand  to  look  at  him.   ❝ not  surprised. ❞  there's  a  lilt  to  his  voice,  the  hand  that  had  once  been  in  his  hair  trailing  down,  over  his  throat,  tracing  along  his  adam's  apple  where  a  collar  might  sit.  interesting.  ❝ dogs  do  miss  their  owners  when  they're  gone  for  long  periods.  and  that's  what  you  are,  aren't  you  kai? ❞  lips  -  now  more  kiss  bruised  than  chapped  -  hover  patiently  along  his  jaw,  ❝ my  smart,  spoiled  little  dog. ❞

[lurksunderthebed]

Hi, I saw that you had a discussion about the queerness of our beloved characters. I really hope you’re not tired of that topic, because I wanted to add another point.

First of all I don’t really care. I really like the dynamic between most of the characters, especially Ghost and Soap, but I don’t care if it’s interpreted as besties or lovers. I think both is fun.

I just wanted to add that maybe all of the MW story feels so fucking gay, because we lack cool women? We have Farah and Laswell, but let’s be real Farah is basically married to Alex (I thought they were a couple at first) and Laswell is married to a woman. Now people go great lengths to ship the male characters with female villains, who only appear in a small fraction of the story and have no real chemistry. I mean they can do whatever floats their boat, but I don’t really see the point here.

Which leaves us with a bunch of man ‘flirting’ with each other vor comedic value. I think given this and the points you already said on your account, I think it’s even a bit intended that most of our characters might not be the straightest.

Sure, a bunch of straight men can exist without women and still be straight and the military still might not be the most women friendly institution, but I think having more girlpower would have been an easy way to make everyone appear more straight and the devs didn’t go that route sooooo… (I still would love to have more cool women, but that’s another topic)

Anyways, I hope you have a good day and I wanted to add that I really enjoyed your character analysis posts <3

Ahh thanks for enjoying my analysis posts. 💞🥹 Honestly, I'm still surprised people are reading them lol. (And asking me about it haha)

But yes, I don't think I'll ever be tired of the ol' queerness discussion. It's a fun topic to debate especially with these characters in this particular game.

Controversial take, but I actually don't think adding any extra female characters would've been helpful in making the 'gay' go away.

(gonna be a long discussion here, settle in if you want to read it haha 😅)

What we have to put in mind, is that this game wasn't made for the female audience. The vast majority of the people buying and playing it are going to be male. That's the facts. It's going to cater to men.

A game made for men is going to have a majority of those characters be male. Adding new female characters in a REBOOT series is a delicate task when a good chunk of the population playing have played the OG and want to see legacy characters back (which are all male—the OG was all men).

That means that when we look at why certain things are framed and why there aren't many female characters, and especially why there isn't much of any confirmed (het) canon romantic ships between any characters, it's because the game itself isn't focused on it.

That same vast majority of men don't actually care about ships in general and with people trying to be more progressive, any female characters introduced are painstakingly written to omit any overt possibility of romance. In one sense, it's a welcome change from the action movie style plot line where man + woman = relationship with the women being just side characters/window dressing to the MC.

Women here are shown to be tough, that they don't need a man at all. They have their own agency. It's pretty nice actually that they did that. None of the female characters are infantilised nor is there a sense of them being there to "check boxes" in the minority bag. They make sense in the framing the game has placed them in.

But we do have this interesting dynamic whereby removing the romance factor, but having female characters in a setting that most are conditioned to read as man + woman = relationship, it de-emphasizes heteronormality and actually emphasises the relationships between the core characters.

And with a game full of men, that means the relationships between men are going to be the focal point.

Adding extra female characters, wouldn't have changed any of this, because the writers have gone out of their way to not make romance a plot of any sort. (There's a whole other discussion on the flaws of trying to give women agency/proving strength of character, but by doing so, taking away their sexualities by removing any sort of romance, but that's beside the point)

I think there's also an argument to be had that meaningful relationships with others don't have to necessarily imply romance between characters. It's totally fair to be sick of always having romance injected in to these sorts of relationships. That's an extremely valid take.

But there most definitely is a double standard that everyone is operating on. And we see that when we compare Alex/Farah's relationship with Ghost/Soap's.

Alex's most meaningful relationship is with Farah. He sacrifices himself for her cause and loses a leg for it. He comes back and stays by her side. Most people assume to take it as Alex is in love with Farah. We never see any type of flirting between the two. In fact it's mostly Farah testing Alex and looking at their dialogue you can tell there's respect between the two, but anything more is undefined/up for interpretation.

Yet it's just assumed by virtue of Alex and Farah being man + woman, that they must be together because of how much Alex had sacrificed. Completely ignoring the possibility of Alex doing so because he believes in Farah's cause and was sick of being jerked around with no choice by higher ups who largely didn't care about the suffering of Farah's people. Suffering that the man had personally witnessed. But no, he must be in love with her. (If Farah was a man, their whole relationship would be read as platonic with Alex's beliefs as a focus, not him being potentially in love)

Ghost's most meaningful relationship is with Soap. Soap has changed Ghost's whole MO as a lone wolf, and has challenged his very notion of trust. Ghost tests Soap and is proven wrong when Soap survives despite the odds. We even see them have plausible deniability flirting/snark. They are framed as a unit and on the off times (off of missions in cutscenes), they are always physically together. There's definitely respect between the two, but anything more is undefined/up for interpretation.

By itself, their relationship seems innocuous, but looking at the context we see a very different picture. Context matters heavily in seeing how this relationship has changed Ghost/the importance of it to him. It's assumed that Soap is the first person in god knows how long, that Ghost is emotionally attached to. What constitutes a normal, albeit flirty and snarky, friendly relationship for most, is amplified for Ghost in the glaring fact that he really doesn't do this for anyone else ever. As far as we can tell for a man that appears to live his job, Soap is Ghost's most important person.

We can even arguably say that Ghost and Soap had a flirtier, friendlier, more emotional relationship than Alex and Farah ever had, yet it's assumed (by the male audience) to be completely platonic by virtue of them both being men.

For all those people who argue to stop shipping characters, those same people turn around and are completely implicit in the notion of Alex and Farah being a thing.

It's a really annoying take, because you and I know that it's not the romance they're bothered by. It's the idea of having a character that exemplifies the silent male loner badass archetype as anything but the pinnacle of masculinity. IE, totally and utterly straight.

I feel I could go on about all the ways Ghost surprisingly subverts his archetype, but I'll leave it there. This is prob already too long 😅

But yes, having new cool female characters is always good, but it still wouldn't settle any sexuality debate since they would most likely be written without any hint of romance between the core 141 group and that potential new character. Just like how Farah and Laswell, as you said, have been both removed completely from the romance/sexuality debate, any new female character would also be put under similar framework.

I suppose it would just make them appear more straight (and get rid of all the speculation) if they had a new female character added into 141, but I don't see the point of adding a new character for that sole purpose. And tbh, it would come across as insulting to women if they did for that one reason.

Given how little character development we had in the latest game, I heavily doubt they would introduce new characters at all when they barely showed anything of the current ones we have already. We need more development of the characters we have, adding someone new would arguably take away from building proper relationships/dynamics between the characters we do have currently.

But yeah, heh. I'll stop for real now. If you got this far in my latest Ted Talk™, kudos to you good sir 🫡, you have all my love ☺️

Hope you have a great day too nonny, and I hope this helps with the discussion. Feels like I went off on too many side tangents. 🤔🤔🤔

[rose-tea-and-strawberries]

Pluto Saves the Day

A Twisted Wonderland House of Mouse!AU story

When the staff all fall into a deep sleep as a result of Pete’s plot to shut down the club, it’s up to Pluto (and Grim) to save the day.

(AKA: what happens when I’m bored on a plane and have House of Mouse episodes saved on my computer)

Words: 4.3K

Masterlist

IT’S WHERE TOONS WATCH TOONS: DISNEY’S HOUSE OF MOUSE!

“Now put your hands together for the rockin’ rodent who’s a real swingin’ cat: Mickey Mouse,” Microphone Mike announced to the club, giving rise to the audience’s burst of applause.

Mickey slid onto the stage, flashing everyone a cheerful smile, “Hey folks, welcome to the show!”

Meanwhile, Yuu was checking the mirror in her dressing room to make sure that she was presentable before she made her rounds in the dining hall.

“Now, Grim,” she said to her firecat monster companion, “I’ve already told the cooks about your dish so please just stay at your table and behave.”

“Yeah, yeah, minion,” Grim groaned, “I’ll behave. The Great Grim is not like those two dumb card soldiers that get into trouble every three minutes.”

She gave him a long, disbelieving look as if she was wondering if only she could remember the event of him setting their curtains on fire that happened ten minutes prior to this very conversation, “if you say so.”

As she made her way to her first table, the NRC prefect could hear Daisy at the reception.

“I’m sorry,” Daisy said to the dwarves with a teasing smile, “we don’t allow minors at the club.”

“Ha,” Grumpy scoffed, Happy and Doc chuckling behind him, “how about leaving the jokes to the comedians?”

Like always, she was called over by one of the villains the second she stepped foot into the main hall. They always made a point to be the first people she greeted and spoke to whenever she was on duty for reasons Yuu had no idea. She was more than happy to converse with their larger than life personalities but it did take a lot of time for them to actually let her return back to her job and see her other friends at the club.

“And what would you like to order, Lord Hades?” She asked the god politely.

“Babes, listen,” Hades smiled at her, “how long are you gonna go with this whole ‘Lord’ stuff? Just call me Hades, kid. You’re cool. I’m cool. We’re both cool.”

“I’m just trying to be polite, Sir,” Yuu gave him a gentle smile.

“Aiiyy,” the Lord of the Underworld massaged his temples, but it was clear by the upturn of his lips that he wasn’t actually frustrated, “what am I gonna do with ya, hun? Say, how are things going with that Idia kid? Managed to get him some good ol’ human interaction, lately?”

“Who cares about that shut-in hermit,” Jafar smirked from the next table, “tell me, that Jamil boy was supposed to assist you with your studies this morning, was he not? I’m sure that the time you spent with him was far more valuable

“Oi, Jaffy,” Hades glared at the sorcerer, blue flames rising a tad bit higher, “I asked first so why don’t ya wait your turn like a good little cobra instead a butting in?”

“Ooohhh~” Pain and Panic intonated in unison, watching the interaction with rapt attention as they bit into marshmallows that were earlier being held above their boss’ head.

“The man’s got a point, Hades,” Ursula chimed in, “I’d much rather hear about how my dear Azul is faring. An octopus of his caliber must be doing far more interesting things than shutting himself inside his room all day. In fact, Yuu was telling me last night how he and those darling eels were planning on taking her swimming sometime soon.”

“Listen, Ursula,” Hades griped, “Yuu and I were having a lovely, civil conversation earlier so why don’t you and Mr Sorceror over here mind ya own damn business.”

“Why should we?” Jafar asked, “are you perhaps…jealous?”

“‘Jealous’?” Hades scoffed, “why would I be jealous, Jaffy?”

As Yuu watched the patrons delve into one of their more familiar arguments with amusement, Pluto strolled along the dining hall, head held high as he surveyed the comings and goings of the club and listened to all of the information being given to him through his headset. Figaro watched him from where he was lounging on a table and abandoned his spot at Geppetto’s side to follow him, mimicking his movements to a T. Pluto, sensing the troublesome cat mocking him, swiveled around and gave the feline a glare. Figaro’s response was to blow a very cheeky raspberry, increasing Pluto’s ire and causing him to bark aggressively at the taunt. And thus began a chase, Figaro mewling and yelping in fear with Pluto hot on his heels. Rushing past several penguin waiters and up a spiraling ramp, the dog skidded to a halt at the sight of Thomas O’Malley and the Alley Cats giving him disapproving looks, with the small Figaro right at the centre.

Still angry at the way the black cat had taunted him, Pluto barked at Figaro, scaring not only his target, however, but also the live band that Mickey had hired as that night’s entertainment. Figaro, O’Malley and the Alley Cats raced away out of the break rooms and into the main hall.

Meanwhile, Mickey was still hosting the guests, “And today’s musical guests: O’Malley and the Alley Cats.”

He was interrupted not only by the sound of multiple cats screeching but also by said cats dashing across and off the stage in fear. As his body contorted to dodge the shaken felines, he gave each of them a worried glance before they ran across the dining hall and disappeared from his vision, “whoa-hey-what’s-whoa-waah-“

“Oi, I’m eating here,” Grim yelled at Billy Boss who had jumped right onto his plate of tuna pie, waving a fork at him threateningly, “the Great Grim does not show mercy to those that mess with his food!”

“Grim,” Yuu intoned reproachfully from where she was pouring tea for Jane Darling and Alice.

“Alright, he’ll show some mercy but only because I don’t want to get up.”

After hearing a loud thump from the main stage, Yuu looked up to see her boss squashed under Pluto; the canine looking sheepish and the mouse growing embarrassed at the way the crowd burst into laughter.

“Oh my, Mickey,” Yuu rushed to the stage along with Minnie, who gave Pluto a stern look, “are you alright?”

Yuu helped the pair untangle themselves as Minnie shot the audience a smile, “Sorry about that folks. We’re just having a few little hiccups. Why don’t you all just relax and watch a cartoon whilst we sort this out.”

Winnie-the-Pooh looked down at the pot of Hunny that had fallen and rolled away on the floor during the kerfuffle with sadness, “oh bother.”

*****

“Pluto, you chased our musical guests away,” Minnie scolded the dog after she and Yuu had managed to get the tangled pair behind the stage, uncrossing her arms as she puffed up in anger, “Ooohh, how many times do I have to warn you, double warn you and triple warn you about chasing cats in the club?”

His response was to look to the side in shame.

Yuu watched them, heart clenching at the sad way Pluto hunched in on himself. Whilst she could understand where Minnie was coming from and that the stressed mouse was constantly busy with work, she was aware that Pluto wasn’t the type to do something maliciously if he didn’t have a reason. As playfully troublesome as the dog can be, when it comes to his job at the club, he tries his best to be as professional as possible. Plus, he was one of the first friends she made when she first started working there and was nothing but kind to her (if a bit too protective) even if he did have a vindictive streak in his personality. She gave Pluto a sympathetic pat on his head, smiling at him as her hand carded through the golden-brown fur on his scalp. He seemed to appreciate the show of affection, with the way he melted slightly under her touch.

Minnie turned to her boyfriend, who was quietly watching all of this go down with his paws stuffed in his pockets, in frustration, “Oooh, now I’ve got to find another musical act.”

Yuu, by now had kneeled down onto the floor to wrap her arms around the saddened canine, giving him a consoling hug. She gave her employer a concerned look, to which he returned with a serious one of his own. It was clear that like her, he didn’t want to upset either side. Mickey turned to Minnie as he reasoned, “aww, he’s just a dog, Min.”

“Yeah,” Yuu piped up, “sure Pluto made a mistake but he didn’t mean to. It’s in his nature to be a bit playful and maybe he just came on a bit too strong. I’m sure that it was all just an accident and no one got hurt.”

Minnie’s face softened as she looked back at the way Yuu held Pluto in a comforting embrace, “Oh, I know you guys but sometimes I feel like this job would be a little easier without Pluto underfoot.”

Pluto whimpered as he bound out of Yuu’s hold, whining as he dejectedly kicked off his headpiece with one of his hind legs before running off. Yuu sadly watched him go and was about to go follow him but was then called by Goofy to handle a table.

“Minnie, I understand where you’re coming from,” Yuu turned to her as she got up, “trust me, I know you put a lot of effort into running the club and it isn’t easy to do what you do. I’m sure that without you doing half of what you do, this place wouldn’t even exist. I really respect and look up to you and I can never thank you enough for everything you’ve done for me but I think that right now you’re wrong about Pluto. Can he be a bit too mischievous? Yes, absolutely. But he always has all of our best interests at heart. I’m sure that he’ll fix his mistake if you give him a chance.”

Minnie gave her a comforting smile, “I know that, Yuu. I’ve known Pluto for about as long as I’ve known Mickey and if there’s one thing that dog is, it’s loyal. I guess that sometimes all of the work that I do gets to me and the idea of having to find a new act with such short notice has me all worried. Don’t worry, once I sort this out I’ll go and find Pluto and we can have a nice chat. Now why don’t you go sort out table 7 before we have another food fight on our hands.”

***

Whilst the Club was running, Pluto had found himself in the alleyway behind the House of Mouse. There he found out that he wasn’t alone when he found a very familiar large cat in the middle of concocting his latest scheme.

“Oooh these poisoned apples sure are great,” Pete grinned as he walked around with a basket of bright red apples, not knowing that he was being spied on, “I can’t believe that there was a whole pile of them right in the villain vault. With Mickey and the gang out cold, I could walk right in and take over the House of Mouse.”

Pluto ran back towards the back entrance of the club, yapping at the locked stage doors. Feeling a chill go up his spine, he turned around to see Pete looming over him with a sinister grin.

“So,” Pete snarled at his quivering figure, “someone is spying on old Pete, eh? Don’t you know what happens to misbehaving cat-chasing mutts? They get sent to Katmandu!”

And with that, the burly landlord grabbed him by the collar and flung him into a box that he shut closed and threw into a post van. He let out booms of evil laughter as he watched the vehicle peel away.

****

“How about we check out this Goofy cartoon?” Mickey gave his audience a grin.

“This one stars me and you” Goofy said to Louie the mountain lion as the toon was projected onto the screen.

During the break, Mickey, Minnie and Yuu had returned to their dressing rooms to find an apple waiting for them on their dressing tables.

“‘For Minnie, the apple of my eye’,” Minnie read the note tied to her gift’s stem with a giggle, hugging the apple close to her cheeks, “He’s the best.”

Mickey looked down at the note that was placed onto his plate of apple-shaped cheese, “‘For Mickey, fresh apple cheese. Love, Minnie.’ Aww, she’s so sweet.”

“For Yuu,” Yuu glanced at the card that was kept next to her apple, “‘make sure to have a snack during your break. Love, the House of Mouse.’ Aww, did someone give me a gift? How nice.”

As each of them took a bite of their apples, they felt a strange feeling overcome them before unceremoniously dropping to the floor in a deep sleep.

At the same time, Donald and Daisy were manning the reception booth when a delivery man walked to the counter with a beautifully gift-wrapped box in his hands.

“Hello there,” Donald waved, “Welcome to my club.”

“I’m looking for a Donald and Daisy Duck,” the man looked at his clipboard, “I’ve got a delivery for them.”

“A delivery!” the two ducks beamed.

“That would be us, Sir,” Daisy smiled at him.

“Yeah,” Donald extended his arms out eagerly, “gimme, gimme, gimme.”

His girlfriend was quick to sign the paper on the clipboard and the box was placed on the countertop. Donald immediately began tearing the wrapping paper off and the box fell open, revealing a deliciously steaming apple pie.

“‘To Donald and Daisy’,” Daisy read the note next to the baked treat, “‘love from your biggest fan.’ Isn’t that lovely?”

The pair each took out a slice and bit into them, causing them to fall backwards into their own slumbers.

As Goofy was making his way to the kitchens from the staff room, a penguin waiter tugged on his trousers.

“Well hello there. What can I help you with, hu yuuhu?” Goofy kneeled down. The penguin handed him a silver serving dish with a lid, “for me? Aww shucks, that’s real swell of ya.”

He watched the penguin waddle off before lifting the lid and finding a bright red apple, “well, would ya look at that? An apple a day keeps the doctor away, after all.”

The head waiter took a bite and was promptly knocked out cold.

**

As the main staff found themselves fast asleep, enwrapped in Pete’s evil plan. Pluto had found a way to escape Katmandu and return to the alley way behind the club. Peeking his head out of his delivery box, he shot a concerned look at the House of Mouse and could immediately sense that something was wrong. After his attempts of opening the locked doors failed, he spotted an opening under the club’s foundation that would give him entry to the interior of the building only to find that his suspicions were true.

Huey, Duey and Louie were slumped against a large drum set, gently snoring with peaceful smiles on their faces; Goofy and his son Max were lying still on the floor, chests rising and falling with every deep breath; Donald, Daisy, Mickey and Minnie were completely dead to the world as they sat against the walls. Even Yuu was lying down on the floor of her dressing room, body motionless.

Ears perking up at the deep rumble of nearby villainous laughter, Pluto crept torwards the source of the noise to find himself right outside a room that held a very satisfied Pete, who was rubbing his hands with glee.

“I’ve never had such a magnificently evil plot,” he grinned to himself, “I better start closing this club down.”

Pluto pounced onto Pete with a snarl, before throwing him into a backstage elevator and locking him inside.

“Back from Katmandu, eh?” Pete smirked at the dog wickedly, “So what, pal? You’re too late to save your little friends, mutt. Somebody better play a cartoon otherwise the House of Mouse is finito.”

With a smile, Pluto leaped away into Horace’s booth at the control room to grab a Pluto cartoon and press it into the disk player. He zipped down, jumped onto the stage and pointed at the screen excitedly, happy to show the audience a toon where he’s the star. The club goers clapped as the projector lit up. While Pluto was making his way back to behind the stage, he found that his path had been intercepted by Grim.

“OI, PLUTO!” Grim said, “where’s my henchman? I haven’t seen her since you chased all of those cats away.”

Pluto barked in response and pointed his head in the direction of Yuu’s dressing room. Once the pair had made it there, Pluto used one of his paws to cover Grim’s mouth when it looked like the other was about to scream at the sight of the girl lying still on the floor, shaking his head and shushing him as he did so. He then showed Grim that all of the other staff members were unconscious as well.

“What is going on? Why is no one awake? Tell me,” Grim demanded.

Pluto let out a string of barks.

“Pete did it? Why I ought to curse him until he begs for forgiveness. No one messes with the Great Grim,” Pluto held onto the scruff of Grim’s neck with his mouth to prevent him from leaving and causing a scene that could disrupt the rest of the club, “oi, hey, what are you doing?”

Pluto placed him back down and barked again, letting the cat-like monster know that right now the priority is to put on a good show to make sure Pete can’t close down the club.

“Alright, but I’m staying here with my minion,” Grim huffed, “after all, she needs a mage as powerful as I am to guard her.”

 The dog nodded in reply and sauntered back. By the time Pluto had returned to the dining room, the audience were clapping at the now ended cartoon.

“Oh, those kittens were just so adorable,” Lumiere gushed, clapping his candle hands together in delight.

"Hmm, yes," Beast agreed, three adorable little kittens happily resting in his large paws, “they are adorable.”

“Nice try, muttface,” Pete provoked Pluto, who had gone to where the landlord was being confined to brag about his success, “but the show won’t be going on since you chased away the kitty musical act remember? Now let me out of here!”

“No way!” Grim yelled back, startling the two as he seemed to appear out of nowhere, “You will never be let out and we do have a musical act. Tonight, I shall give you all the honour of watching me perform.”

Pluto barked at him.

“What, ‘no’?” Grim gasped in outrage, “I’ll have you know that the Great Grim is the best entertainment you could ask for. They’ll be begging me to get back on the stage.”

“Woof.”

 “What do you mean I’ll sound like nails on a chalkboard? I am a talented musical genius. You wouldn’t know taste if it came and-”

“This is fun to watch and all but until the audience gets entertainment, the show can’t go on. Unless you get on that stage, mutt?” Pete asked sarcastically.

Pluto lit up and ran onto the stage.

“I gotta stop giving that dog ideas.” Pete glowered.

Grim glared back at him, “you really do.”

Pluto let out a few excited barks at the audience, his tail wagging enthusiastically behind him.

“That’s right folks,” Microphone Mike announced, “our special guests are none other than: the Pet Shop Dogs.”

The audience applauded as the spotlights revealed an assortment of different dogs that were previously seated with the other clientele. Grim pouted from where he was snuggled up against Yuu’s sleeping form when he saw Pluto conducting the dogs into a song, “those mutts have nowhere near half of the magnificence of the Great Grim. Wait a minute, I have an idea.”

“Mama, Papa,” Lucky the dalmatian puppy yipped excitedly at his parents upon seeing his brothers bark on stage, “look at Patch and Rolly!”

“I always knew my pups would be stars,” Pongo remarked with pride as Perdita smiled adoringly at her family.

Penny, who was curled up next to Pongo, scrunched up her nose as she looked at her father with concern, “hey, where’s Yuu? She’d love to watch this.”

 When the song came to the close, the dogs on stage barked happily at the clapping and cheering they were rewarded with.

“Where’s my tailor when I need him,” Cruella groaned and slammed her table with a fist.

“Oooh, that was very almost musical,” Pete teased back when the dog had returned backstage, “maybe I’ll hire you when I take over this dump because after the apples I gave them, your friends ain’t never gonna wake up!”

“So that’s what happened,” a sweet voice called out, it’s angelic lilt interrupting Pete’s gloating laughter like a beam of light cuts through darkness. Both Pluto and Pete turned towards its source to find Princess Snow White standing at the doorway, Grim sitting comfortably in her arms, “Grim told me that Yuu was in trouble. That must be why everyone’s asleep. They were all tricked into eating poisoned apples.”

Pluto nodded as Grim turned to look at the fair princess, “do you know how to wake them up?”

Snow White smiled down at him and gave a soft laugh, “Of course I do.” She turned to Pluto, “to wake up your friends, all you need is to give them a kiss.”

Pluto barked happily as he made his way to his friends, giving each of them sloppy kisses all over their faces. Before he could make his way to Yuu, though, Grim had jumped out of Snow White’s arms and stood infront of his fellow Ramshackle dorm member, extending out his paws as if shielding her from him

“Wait a minute!” Grim yelled at Pluto, “You ain’t getting your lips anywhere near my henchman. If anyone’s gonna be waking her up it’s me!”

Pluto rolled his eyes and scoffed when Grim had turned around and placed a kiss on Yuu’s forehead. This caused Yuu to shift slightly, rolling over as she groggily flickered her eyes open in confusion, “wha-what happened?”

“Minion!” Grim yelled happily and jumped onto her chest, nuzzling her face with his. Yuu blinked in perplexity and hugged him.

“Gee, I had this crazy dream that Pluto kept the show going,” Mickey scratched his head in bewilderment as Yuu began to sit up.

“I did too,” Minnie said.

“It wasn’t a dream,” Snow White smiled, petting Pluto’s head, “Pluto saved the day.”

“Pluto that’s amazing,” Yuu beamed, she extended an arm as an invitation for Pluto to join in on the hug. The dog yipped happily and bounced onto her, making her laugh as he joyfully licked all over her face, “Aww, I love you too, boy.”

“I had a dream a doggy was kissing me,” Goofy laughed as Donald gagged.

“Henchman, what about me?” Grim whined, “I’m the one that woke you up. Shouldn’t I get praised as well?”

“Oh, Pluto,” Minnie smiled, walking to where Yuu was hugging the smug dog and giving him a few pets to his head, “I’m so proud of you.”

 Pluto held his head high.

Later, after Mickey had introduced another cartoon to the guests, Yuu, Grim and the Sensational Six had gathered together behind the stage as a congratulations ceremony for their hero.

“Pluto, for single handedly stopping Pete, keeping the show going and saving the House of Mouse, I hereby promote you to the rank of official certified, authorized, deputized, accredited and with all access to the club granted ‘Pluto Assistant’,” Minnie announced, placing his headgear on the dog’s head with the gravitas of a Queen knighting him.

“Attaboy, Pluto,” Mickey ruffled his head as Yuu cheered and clapped behind him.

“And I thought that it would be easier around here without you,” Minnie laughed at her former self’s words.

“Three cheers for Pluto,” Yuu toasted and Donald, Daisy and Goofy cheered and danced with her.

“Where’s the Great Grim’s reward?” Grim griped to Yuu, “I did help too, you know.”

Yuu sighed, “I’ll make you an extra plate of tuna pie.”

“That’s a start,” he hmphed at her, crossing his arms and sticking his nose in the air. She gave him a smile and picked him up, ignoring his demands to be put down as she hugged him and pecked his forehead. “Wha-hey! What was that?”

“A kiss,” she retorted.

“Disgusting. Do it again.”

“Remember, Pluto,” Mickey smirked, pointing at Pete with his thumb, “there’s only one cat you’re allowed to chase.”

Pete gripped onto the bars of his cage, “and who might that be, pray tell?”

“It better not be me,” Grim huffed at his dorm mate.

Pluto strolled to the wall next to Pete and used his tail to release the large cat from his confinement. Pete’s face slackened in shock and fear as the doors slid open, causing Pluto’s fellow canine friends to run towards him, barking in delight as they jumped on him. Pluto sat back and watched them with smug satisfaction before Pete ran out with his clothes ripped from the roughhousing and he too wanted to join in on the fun of chasing him.

“Alright gang,” Mickey said to Minnie and Yuu, taking no notice of the sound of Pete’s screams, “we’d best get back out there and continue the show.”

“You got it, Mickey,” Yuu saluted him and the night continued as normally a night at the House of Mouse could be.

Now all she had to do was dissuade a bunch of unhappy customers from getting revenge on her behalf.

HA! THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY! SEE YOU COOL CATS REAL SOON!