#absolutely. i do that in fanfic

[intermundia]

heyy i was wondering if you have an opinion on the role the jedi order plays in the republic? on a political level I mean :D

so, my thoughts on the jedi order are largely shaped by george lucas, and that means my answer to this question may not be as politically nuanced as you may hope (aka the political things i write about in my fanfics are genre-bent reinterpretations of the core lore of the saga). the nature of the jedi's participation in politics is pretty simple, in the way that myths are simple.

it would probably be easier for me to share and explain some of my notes i took while reading the sw prequels archives and comment of them. i transcribed a lot of the book in the process of trying to understand it, so the following are quotes from george unless otherwise noted. this is the book i mean:

oh sw archives my beloved. anyway.

first, and most importantly, the jedi are not a real political organization that exists in the world, but rather their design is to further george's narrative. he is not writing a political thriller, but rather an emotional and philosophical one. they're more like symbols for moral quandaries than a real organization.

the jedi are space wizards, and also the most moral agents possible. this is not realism, but rather they are agents in a spiritual morality play, where they are an explicitly defined white-hat good guys, who are in combat with black-hat selfish bad guys. he's telling a mythic story, so you have to reframe the jedi out of history and into myth.

he wants to tell a story about how it is not enough to rule by fear. fear is not a sufficient mechanism to keep society civil. you need something else, something 'supernatural' in his words in order to encourage mutual flourishing, some way to overcome our tribal limitations and fears and live in a unified and diverse world.

the jedi are his idea of how to show that force of compassion in a narrative, the idea of people with power motivated by the right reasons, working for the good of everyone. the jedi are the embodiment of the archetype of the true public servant, the ones we want to have ruling over us. this is not a class of people that actually exist in reality, but also nobody here has space magic either.

so his design is that the jedi order are warrior-monks who keep the peace, ambassadors more than cops, the most moral people in the galaxy, because they are monks.

they've chosen to serve, and been given both duty and oversight from the galactic senate. they do not create the world order, but they do their best to encourage peace and civilization whenever and wherever they can. there aren't that many of them, but they are extremely powerful people, who are by narrative design the most moral people in the galaxy (just.. not anakin at the end there).

ultimately, they exist to be trapped into a bind, the morality of always doing the right thing vs the morality of always seeking the best outcome. there is no clean answer to that, it's a perennial tension in the history of philosophy, so the jedi are emblematic of that, you know? in the end, they're literary figures more than real world political ones, and exist so that we can interrogate our own values.

i realize this is a take that might be unpopular with segments of the fanbase who really enjoy analyzing star wars through the lens of realpolitik and making it gritty and adult and complex. my answer is that star wars is heartbreakingly simple. they're an embodiment of our better natures, locked in a fight against our worst. the politics stuff is all pretty superficial storytelling on top of that.

[sleepysebris]

:) 🖤

@mlsecretsanta gift for @thequeenofspace! happy belated holidays and apologies for the delay, had a serious family emergency followed by sickness! I had so much fun making this though, was so excited to finally draw these two 🖤 hope you enjoy!!!

[rennenaway]

I mean

I'm not wrong?

[starmocha]

pain is all you'll find [Sylus/Reader ★ 630 words ★ Masterlist ★ Series Index ★ AO3] It was karaoke night at Onychinus’ base. A/N: I am so, so sorry. I have no excuses for this one. It’s just full-on crack.

It was karaoke night at Onychinus’ base.

You didn’t even realize Onychinus had karaoke nights, but here you were in a room surrounded by other henchmen all applauding and cheering its fearless leader as he wailed—er, sang—the fourth song of the night.

You grimaced, and chugged your bottle of beer, wishing the alcohol would just take effect already. Beside you, Luke and Kieran were also happily (and soberly?) applauding Sylus. They couldn’t possibly be enjoying his cat-yowling rendition of Careless Whisper, could they? It was honestly hard to tell since the twins refused to remove their masks. The masks were probably there to hide their suffering, you thought grimly, unable to think of any other plausible reasoning in your semi-tipsy state.

When you turned your sight back to the TV screen and the current talentless singer hogging the mic, your cheeks pinked up when you made eye contact with Sylus and he winked at you. For just an instance, you felt your stomach flipped, captivated by his smoldering eyes and suave smile.

And then he opened his mouth again. You mentally screamed in agony, wondering why a good person like yourself was being punished so cruelly like this.

You wanted to bury your head in your arms, or maybe suffocate yourself with these tacky looking throw pillows at Onychinus’ base. Hell, you would even happily let Mephisto peck your eyes out if it meant ending this torment. How could someone with a great—no, sexy—speaking voice not be able to carry a goddamned tune? God truly had a very particular sense of humor, you realized, as you forced a stiff smile and shakily gave Sylus a thumb up.

When the song finally ended (dear god, why did he pick the extended version?), you finally let out the breath you were holding in. You politely clapped and smiled, thinking Sylus was about to return to his seat next to you, but you instantly froze mid-clap, face paling as you watched him scrolled through the song list once more.

He smiled. You worried.

Your ears bled as he rasped the first three verses, before belting out: “Hello, is it me you're looking for?”

Onychinus henchmen were clapping and cheering, and you couldn’t take this anymore. You leaned over to both Luke and Kieran, hissing sharply, “You guys can’t possibly be enjoying these murders on classic songs, right?”

You blinked, dumbfounded, when Luke casually pulled out an earplug.

“Did you say something, Miss Hunter?”

Kieran pulled both of his own earplugs out. “What’s wrong?”

“You guys have been…”

“Oh, damn,” Luke said, reaching into his pocket, “I forgot to give you yours. My bad, Miss Hunter.”

You curiously received a pair of earplugs and you looked up, seeing Kieran motioning you to put them on. The moment you did, you realized that silence truly was golden. You cracked a grin to the twins.

Suddenly you found you were enjoying Sylus’ performance more. All eye candy and not a fucking tuneless sound out of him. Thank fucking god, you thought, this time joining Luke and Kieran in their zealous cheering.

Everything went on well for a few minutes, but unfortunately, the night seemed to drag on, and everyone watched with dismay as the leader of Onychinus showed that he had no intention of letting anyone else have the mic. Your brief moment of faux enthusiasm died down after each song he performed until you could do nothing but mentally sighed as you clapped like a trained seal with your stupidly rigid smile plastered on your face.

You watched the lyrics danced on the TV screen as Sylus ‘sang’ along: Welcome to your life.

You mentally groaned for the umpteenth time. It was going to be a long, long fucking night. Goddamnit.

[erinwantstowrite]

Since we all know that Dick would sob at the sight of itty bitty Peter, what would be the reactions of the other members of the Batfam?

basing this off of the very, very limited one shot I started writing of this, that may or may not take a while to post... they're gonna keep trying to steal Peter, only to find out that Peter is a velcro kid and will cry if he's separated from Dick in any way. The only one who's able to? Jason. He does, indeed, lord that over everyone

[0-cloud-puff-0]

Fanart for @morningstarwrites ‘s Of saints and sinners (Chp 17)

(Click for better quality)

[egophiliac]

Where can you play ride kamens? It looks fun looking at your blog but idk where to play

it'll doesn't start until the 30th, but there's some pre-release episodes/character bits that are scattered around the website and twitter! (the links to pre-reg/download are also on the website :D)

honestly I'm really enjoying it just based off of the pre-release stuff, these characters look like they're going to be exactly that blend of ridiculous and emotionally constipated that hits me so right.

[silna-pdf]

William tries to do something for his family, having only 1 “friend” to turn to for help

[original snippet from the fanfic v]

[justaz]

somehow some time magic goes wrong and young arthurs from different points in time are pulled into king arthur era. everyone kinda has this back and forth of who is going to watch the literal 8 month old. gwen and lancelot are pretty good at taking care of him, so is percival but he doesnt seem comfortable with it so no one forces him. elyan tried to hold him but baby!arthur started wailing after three seconds. leon is sorta good but he has like no idea how babies work or what they need so when baby!arthur found his sword and almost lobbed his own head off, leon was forbidden from taking care of the child. gaius is too old and busy researching how to reverse the issue. who the HELL would trust gwaine with a child? arthur has this Odd aversion to the child but no one pushes him on it. ofc merlin, magic incarnate, has this like aura or energy that draws all these innocent woodland creatures to him so obviously little arthur is also drawn to him. in fact, merlin seems to be the person he likes the most. and merlins a natural w kids apparently so hes often the one that baby!arthur is handed off to.

he complains about it at first but when baby!arthur breaks into a fit of giggles after merlin calls adult!arthur a clotpole, he has merlin wrapped around his little finger. merlin stops complaining but does let arthur know that the one thing he Will Not Do is change his diaper. arthur laughs and walks away. merlin talks to baby!arthur like they’ve been friends for years (bc they have). arthur points out that baby!arthur cant understand him and merlin retorts that its like how it normally is. merlin gets to perform magic in front of baby!arthur and he LOVES it

my point to this was merlin dotting on little versions of arthur is a way that no one ever really did for him growing up and adult!arthur seeing it and healing little pieces of his inner child as he watches merlin play games with baby!arthur and make sure he’s taken care of. it especially hits him when gaius finally finds a way to send baby!arthur back and while everyone seems torn between upset they have to say bye, they’re also relieved to get the baby back where hes supposed to be,, merlin is like choking back fat tears. everyone backs off to give them privacy and merlin just kisses baby!arthur’s forehead and whispers some encouraging and heartachingly sincere words that have adult!arthur choking back tears.

then BOOM the spell also backfires and while yes baby!arthur got back to where hes supposed to be, now theres toddler!arthur. he has this gravitational pull to gaius (can recognize him) and merlin (magic soulmates ofc he has an innate trust in the man). merlin is happy to have his little friend back and gaius goes back to the drawing board. now they have this little 2-3 year old toddling after them and blabbering something that sounds like english if you’re patient enough

(merlin makes another comment about how little arthur has changed over the years)

the cycle repeats, merlin and toddler!arthur get attached and adult!arthur watches and heals a bit more of his inner child. gaius finds another cure that falls through the same way and now they have child!arthur. he has a bit more of uther’s influence in him but hes still a child. he gets hurt and tries to fight back tears but merlin sees he’s in pain and tells him it’s okay to be hurt, to feel pain, to cry. child!arthur says in that stutter cry children do when they’re fighting back tears that his father says boys shouldn’t cry. merlin wipes a tear that slips down child!arthur’s face and whispers about how he cries and lets himself feel his sadness before picking himself back up and dusting himself off before getting back to it, that it doesn’t make him weak but stronger. adult!arthur hears this and this may not be the beginning of his deconstruction but it makes a tremendous amount of progress in him rewiring his brain away from his father’s toxic ways of thinking.

idk if they’d get a teen!arthur since gaius probably would’ve learned his lesson by then but if they did, we’d get to watch Merlin vs Arthur Showdown 2.0 as merlin humbles the young prince and i think that’d be funny. especially for gwaine since he didn’t get to see it happen the first time.

[starcurtain]

Hey! I apologize if this question has been asked before since it seems like a pretty obvious one, but where do you think the idea of Aventurine being a sex slave came from? Other than the obvious factor of it being something fun for the fandom to mess around with, I mean.

It's something I kind of took for granted as being true before playing his quest, but after finishing it I realized there wasn't really any indication. The only thing I can really think of is his master's comments about him having a good body. Is there anything in his behavior you can think of that would lead to this conclusion if it wasn't a popular fan interpretation already/kind of just an easy conclusion to reach with a slave character?

(also kind of related but what do you think of the idea that he sleeps around/with his clients to make deals? he's obviously willing to sexualize himself with the boob window, but that doesn't necessarily mean he goes further.)

As far as I can tell, the idea that Aventurine was involved in sexual slavery comes from three (maybe four) places:

First, the comment from the master about Aventurine's appearance. People were holding this comment up as refutable proof that Aventurine was used in sexual slavery on top of being tossed into the Hunger Games; however, the response from other players on this interpretation, especially the Chinese side of the fandom, was very mixed, with a lot of people pointing out that the context in the game probably meant the slave master was talking about Aventurine's ability to attract attention from fans watching the literal Sigonian Hunger Games, rather than having a direct sexual-slavery connotation.

Second, the comment from Sparkle about stripping naked and getting on his knees for Sunday. This one has way more implication in English than I think it might for an Eastern audience, actually. In English, this pretty much sounds like Sparkle saying Aventurine trades sexual favors for success in his gambles. However, I suspect the original intention in Chinese was more about humiliation. Western audiences don't have as much history with honor-based prostration, i.e. accepting corporal humiliation as a form of reconciliation that Eastern audiences might be more familiar with. And in any case, Sparkle is Sparkle. She probably just went for the lowest blow she could think of here.

Third, the general assumption that if Sigonian slaves were being chained, branded, beaten, sent to death matches, etc., it seems logical that they would also be taken advantage of in other ways. I honestly think this is probably the fairest take--many, many real slaves around the world faced (and still face!) sexual abuse, so if slaves from Sigonia were treated so poorly you could make them fight to the death for entertainment, it stands to reason they were probably also not safe from other forms of assault. We also have no idea what happened to Kakavasha in any of the years between his being a tiny child fleeing the massacre and then being purchased as a slave as a late-teens-early-twenties person. That's a very long time for a child to have to survive on their own on an extremely hostile planet and not face risks of all kinds or end up needing to do unspeakable things to survive. So I think this is at least not that far-fetched, although it's important to say there's nothing in the game that directly confirms this.

And fourth: I read a tweet semi-recently that stated that one of the Chinese (or maybe it was Japanese) names for a quest Aventurine was involved in was actually a reference to a book about a teenage sexual assault survivor. However, when I tried to verify this myself, I couldn't find any quest Aventurine was in that was based on a book about sexual assault in either English, Chinese, or Japanese. It's possible I just missed something, but I'm taking this one with a bit of a grain of salt currently, since I can't confirm it personally.

Regarding your other question, about whether I think Aventurine sleeps around to make deals...

I definitely think he does not, for one major reason.

First, I will admit that Aventurine is definitely willing to use his appearance to his advantage. This is pretty obvious. He wears incredibly flashy clothes, baths himself in cologne, overloads on glittering golden jewels, and absolutely calls attention to his appearance when working with clients.

We see him actively doing this in his Moment Among the Stars video, where he is clearly using his looks as an equal tool (to his wealth), to daze his target.

It's not an accident that he says things like "Use me as you wish," with all the explicit connotations preserved. The implication is there. However, unless he was absolutely backed into a corner, I think that implication is all it will ever be.

The reason I think this is that the devs go out of their way to give Aventurine three fairly noticeable physical behaviors in his in-game scenes:

For one, he has some of the most closed off body language of any character in the game.

Aventurine's default conversation pose is arms crossed directly and tightly in front of himself. This is like "Defensive Body Language 101." By crossing your arms, you put a symbolic barrier between yourself and the person you're speaking to, and also ensure that your hands are up and available in case you actually need to physically defend yourself.

Virtually all of Aventurine's conversations take place from this stance, no matter who he is speaking to (from the Trailblazer all the way to Topaz). He deliberately closes his pose off and tightens up his silhouette, which just sends a glaring "Don't touch me" message.

This closing off is also blatantly apparent when you compare it to the deliberately open poses he strikes while trying to make himself seem accessible to others (like tempting clients) or seem powerful (to intimidate):

Complementing this habit of closing himself off is a second noticeable aspect of his body language: He frequently avoids eye contact to the point that he even holds conversations while entirely facing away from the person he's speaking to.

I might be a bit lenient and say maybe he's doing this to on purpose to be mysterious, whoo~~ But... in all honestly, he just does this with everyone, even with Ratio while trying to talk about an actual important issue (wanting to look into Acheron's real identity). Hell, even the fake Aventurine does it to himself!

We can even say that wearing the rose-tinted glasses in the first place is another intentional barrier, one Aventurine deliberately removes in specific moments to give people the (false) impression that he's "letting them in" to his circle:

Now, this might be a bit more complicated in Aventurine's case, because eye contact has a whole extra meaning when eyes are the defining trait of your species and come with particularly challenging racial stereotypes. So it may be that Aventurine is simply used to conducting conversation while looking away to minimize racial prejudice against his eyes' unique appearance.

However, I'd also argue that the devs deliberately turned his entire model away in cutscene after cutscene to create a clear sense of being inaccessible, unapproachable, and unwilling to engage in the physical intimacy of standing closely, directly facing, and staring at his conversation partners.

While he faces away, he controls both the figurative and the literal direction of conversation, forcing people to keep their eyes on him while he is free to move as he pleases. Over and over again, it just says "I want to be the one in control. I'm not afraid to show my back to you, but you are not welcome to come near me."

And, in fact, that's a third aspect of his character's body language that I am sure the devs did not include accidentally: More so than other characters, many of Aventurine's conversations are conducted from weirdly far distances. Like, half the time he's talking, he's standing all the way on the opposite side of the room!

This habit of speaking from a-larger-than-normal distance is apparent in the first scene with Himeko...

And then in just about every other conversation too:

The bubble is twenty feet in every direction.

Like yes, he does approach and have conversations like a normal person... sometimes... But it is significantly more noticeable with Aventurine than with other characters that he often conducts whole conversations--even with his allies--from a distance. Just genuinely weirdly far apart.

Leaving space for Gaiathra, I guess.

And it's because these significant decisions were made with Aventurine's in-game body language that, when he deliberately alters his own behavior, it is instantaneously noticeable.

In 2.0, he closes the distance, the glasses come off, and he gets directly up in the Trailblazer's face.

It's uncomfortable not just because the player is suddenly being loomed over, but because this behavior has already been subconsciously established for the player as out of character for Aventurine.

The barriers the character himself was putting up are deliberately stripped away so that he can use physicality and demanding eye contact to intimidate his target. He has to reverse his own normal body language in order to come across as domineering (and, I guess if you're into that, appealing in a domineering manner).

And ummmm, just a tiny aside here because I can't resist:

This does mean that when the game goes out of its way to demonstrate Aventurine altering his own normal habit of distant and defensive body language, it is absolutely intentional.

Yes, this is a Ratiorine post in disguise. There literally isn't any other character in the game that Aventurine is shown being comfortable standing so close to and interacting with in this manner. This doesn't occur in every one of their scenes, but Ratio is the only character that this happens with repeatedly. It's not an accident that the devs literally added "They were walking side-by-side" as flavor text.

But look, I'll be fair: There's a great example of this in Aventurine's scene with Acheron too, where he closes the distance and attempts to make eye contact with her--seeking her guidance and closeness--and she is actually the one stepping away, speaking with her back turned, demonstrating her power and control (and issues with connection!) in that scene.

Anyway, this was a whole longggg tangent into analyzing Aventurine's body language, but my point is that, overall, the devs deliberately adjusted his model's actions in-game to give the impression of a person who clearly wants to be in control of every interaction he has with other people, who insists on distance over intimacy, and whose stances and habits suggest that he is significantly less accessible and open than his "Use me as you wish" motto might suggest.

Long story longer, I think that there is almost zero chance Aventurine is willingly ceding control over himself or the actions expected of him to anyone he isn't 100% comfortable with, and I think that using physical intimacy of any kind would be an absolute last resort for him. Frankly, he comes across as more likely to shoot himself in the foot than let someone he doesn't trust lay hands on him.

To me, he reads very much as "You may look, but you may not touch."

[floofballsammy]

They could never make me hate you Andrealphus.

You're such a dramatic asshole for no reason and I love it. Keep being mean and conniving you gay little elsa bird. Scheme those evil plans.

[panevanbuckley]

most fatal mistake you can make is finishing a part of your wip and letting yourself scroll this damn site 'as a treat' like hell no baby now your wip will never be finished

[bumnyv]

'And it was an odd thing, resting his hand over Nico di Angelo's. In a sense, it was as if he were formally resting with the boy in the darkness of a coffin.'

Do yourself a favor and go read Leo Valdez & The Olympians: The Ceaseless Eve by @rosesradio

Ok? Ok.

Please, it's so good.

[aromanticannibal]

while I see the appeal of izuku calling kacchan katsuki I think if he does katsuki should be allowed to burst into tears immediately

[stars-obsession-pit]

The Fenton parents + the heroes vs the GIW

Danny has been captured by the Ghost Investigation Ward, and his parents are on a warpath to get him back (this could be some time after a past reveal-gone-right or Danny’s ghost form could have been revealed just now with them stepping up to support him).

Unfortunately, the GIW aren’t pushovers. Sure, their agents poking around in Amity Park weren’t the most competent, but the organization as a whole is a lot more powerful.

Powerful enough that despite their best efforts, Jack and Maddie know they won’t be enough on their own (even with the help of Danny’s friends). They can raid the local bases, but the more fortified ones pose a far greater challenge.

Thus, they need to get external help. And, well, what are superheroes for if not saving people?

The GIW may be a government agency (at least in theory - could have it revealed that their evils were very much unsanctioned and hidden from the official side of things), but heroes have fought for getting legal rights for Metas before. All they have to do us convince them to extend that to include Ghost rights too.

So the Fentons contact the Batman / the Justice League / (your heroes of choice) to enlist their aid.

(If it’s the batfam, maybe there’s an additional connection of Danny being friends with one of Bruce’s kids online. This serves double duty by giving the Fentons a reason to reach out to Batman (the endorsement of Danny’s friend from Gotham) and getting another person who is personally connected to Danny and worried about his safety. Or for some bonding-in-captivity stuff, maybe it’s Jason and he was captured too…)

Now with allies, the raids can begin. They just have to hope they’re not too late to save Danny before he is killed for real…

[scribbly-artist]

Calling it a Night - Part 2

Summary: You’ve dragged Viktor back to your shared apartment after a long night at the lab. It’s time to unwind with some nice, warm tea on the couch. But, Viktor swore he would get you back from your exchange at the lab. So, he’s feeling a little bit playful.

Author’s Notes: Ask and you shall receive (within reason). I was already brain storming a little something something as a sequel. So with people asking for more, I am very happy to deliver. I’d love to write some more stuff for Arcane, definitely Viktor and I’d love to give writing Jayce a go. If you have anything in mind, whether an x Reader or between characters, drop an ask and I’ll see what I can do. >:)

You don’t need to read part one previously to enjoy this one, but in case you’d like to give it a read, here it is for you. Some ler!Viktor for you in these trying times. Viktor Nation, how we feeling?

Warning: a tickle fic. If you aren’t into that, I’d advise not reading.

Words: ~1,700 | AO3 Link

Taking in a deep breath, you turned the key in your hand and pushed forward as you unlocked the door to your shared apartment. The comfort you felt as you took in the sight was like no other. What made it even better was that you got to share this space with your loved one, Viktor. Although, he was the sole reason why you couldn’t come home any earlier than this. If you didn’t forcefully ‘convince’ him to come home with you, he would have certainly stayed behind, experimenting until he passed out. But you knew he needed rest, he just needed someone to tell him that (or, drag him out) every once in a while for his health.

The lamp you left alight before you left this morning - on your own, as Viktor goes to the lab as soon as the sun rose most days - casted a warmth you missed dearly. You couldn’t stop yourself from smiling at the sight.

“See, isn’t it much better to be home?” You asked as you placed the bundle of keys down in a trinket tray on a small table near the front door. Viktor followed in shortly after you, pushing the door closed with his cane.

“Hmm, I could have brought some of my notes to revise—“ He wasn’t allowed to finish his sentence as you whipped around.

“No! Now’s our time to rest! You’ve been overworking yourself, I see those bags under your eyes! If you snuck some work back home with you, I swear—“

“No, no I did not. I did not want to be subjected to your wrath. I know how you would react… a bit too well.” He put his hands up in a defensive stance as he let out a chuckle, and released the breath he was just holding.

“As you should. Now, come. I can make the tea just fine, but maybe you could help out with the dishes? I left a couple there from this morning.” You asked very nicely, wrapping an arm around his forearm with a cheeky smile on your face. He rolled his eyes at your attempt at persuasion, Viktor was no stranger to this.

“Certainly. How can I say no to that face of yours?”

And so, it was time to make some tea that would surely make you both feel a lot better after all the work and research you did today. You started with heating up the pot, adding the leaves while it warmed up. Viktor was off to the side, washing up the plate and utensils you had left behind that morning. You watched him for a bit, just looking at him from behind as he worked away. Like with his research, there was just something about watching him work from a distance that pleased you.

Just as quickly as you prepped the pot, the tea was ready to go. You looked up to the cabinet above, the teacups and saucers were up there, along with the other dishes.

You reached up to open the cabinet door, arm outstretched. You were just a tiny bit too short, getting up on your tippy toes to reach. Your fingers grazed the handle, until you felt a ticklish pinch on your ribs. Your arm flew straight back down to your side, a certain someone next to you with a grin on their face. You gave him an accusatory look.

“Oh. No, that wasn’t me. It must have been… a phantom, or something.” Viktor couldn’t hide the smile growing on his face.

“Yeah, totally. You’re so mean to me, y’know.”

“Says the person who pulled me away from my important work with tickling. A bit hypocritical of you. But, I will help you regardless.” He leaned up to the cabinet, reaching up and opening the doors. He grabbed two teacups and saucers, setting them down in front of the teapot for you. He let out a hum as he made his way back to the sink with a few thumps of his cane.

You eyed him suspiciously, puffing out your cheeks. You wrapped your hand around the handle of the pot, very carefully pouring in the piping hot tea into both of the cups. You heard some thumping again… you didn’t think to take a glance as you reached forward to grab the small container of honey on the bench, opening it up to add a bit of it to the tea with a spoon. But when you felt another gentle pinch - this time on your side - you nearly spilt honey everywhere with a flinch.

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist. I’ll stop. For now.” Viktor smiled at you, placing a hand on your shoulder as he moved past you, making his way over to the couch. You finished putting honey in your teacups with a stir of the spoon, carefully picking up both saucers as you followed Viktor to join him on the couch.

You both enjoyed some very nice tea, having a chat while you did so. But in the back of your mind, his words when you both left the lab bounced around in your brain. While conversing, you grabbed a blanket that was laying across the top of the couch, wrapping it around yourself. ‘Protection’, you thought it would be useful, almost like armour. Surely if you looked all cozy in your blanket, Viktor wouldn’t attempt anything.

“Thank you for the tea, I appreciate it. It was lovely.” He sung praise as he scooted over to sit a little closer to you, wrapping his arm around your waist as you sipped on the last of your tea.

“It was no problem, I added some honey for that extra touch.” You replied, lying your head so it was leaning against his shoulder. Viktor let out a hum, and started to fiddle with a bit of the blanket at your waist. You could feel his fingers through the blanket, twitching a little at the touch.

“While I don’t want to ruin the moment… I believe I have a… mm, a threat I must act upon from earlier, first.” Your head whipped up to look at him, seeing the small, but slightly evil grin on his face. “I made sure you could drink your tea in peace… now that we’re done, though? Absolutely not.”As soon as those words left his mouth, it began.

Viktor’s fingers at your waist started to dig deeper into the blanket, searching to find an opening. His other hand also joined in, rummaging their way through your makeshift shield on their quest to find ticklish spots to attack. You squirmed about as you started giggling, shaking your head.

“Wahahahait! No— but we were having a nihihihice moment!!” Giggling out, you tried to grab his searching hands but to no avail. A wide smile was stretched across your face as his fingers found purchase on your belly, scribbling in with expert precision. He has to delicately handle pieces of machinery and tech all day, so you weren’t surprised how meticulous his fingers were. A blush started creeping onto your face as you laughed yourself silly.

“Ah, but you can’t hog all the fun, you know? I see what you were trying to do. Did you really think that blanket would protect you?” Viktor pointed out as he chuckled along with you. Your laughter was contagious, he couldn’t help himself. His fingers managed to stumble upon a little bit of flab on your belly and started skittering his nails there. You nearly squealed as you threw your head back in laughter.

“It seems I’ve discovered a new weak spot. I must make a formal report on this, for my scientific research.” The smirk in his voice was very evident.

“You b-behehetter nOHOHOT!” Your face only grew more red from Viktor’s teasing. His hands moved down to find your hips, massaging the bones with his thumbs as his fingers wiggled into your sides. You writhed about, but you tried to make sure you didn’t pull away too far. You were enjoying this, you’d rather die than admit it. But you knew that he was aware of this, too. He was far too smart to not notice the signs.

Viktor’s hands didn’t linger at your hips for long, trailing their way up to pinch at your ribs. Your eyes closed tightly as your body shook about like a headless chicken, you were starting to hit a limit. With the remaining strength he hadn’t rudely sapped from you, you reached out and pushed on his chest with your hands. An alarmed and surprised noise left him as he was pushed back, his head landing on the arm rest of the couch with you on top of him. You grabbed the edges of the blanket and wrapped it around both of you.

“Nohoho tickling in the blanket! The blanket is a safe space,” You stated as some residual giggles left your mouth, sucking in air to fill your tired lungs. “We must get cozy. That’s the rules. Plus, the tea is kicking in.” A yawn leaving your mouth, you lay your head on his chest, Viktor’s hand reaching up to rest his hand on the back of your head.

“I simply cannot argue with that.” Viktor replied with a laugh as he shifted on the couch to make both of you more comfortable, his other arm wrapping itself around your waist through the swaddle of the blanket.

“We just have to remember… to move to the bed…” Your voice turned into a whisper as your eyes grew heavy, closing shut with a big yawn. Viktor let out a tsk as he saw you start to slumber. He brushed a hand along your face, his thumb stroking your rosy cheek.

He wasn’t a stranger to both of you falling asleep on the couch by accident, this isn’t the first time you’ve both been in this situation. And similar to if a cat fell asleep in his lap, he did not dare move. So he closed his eyes, joining you in restful slumber with a gentle smile glued to his face, matching your own.

The couch wasn’t nearly as comfy as a bed, so you both would definitely be sore tomorrow. But it was worth it, wasn’t it?