#also! finally found out the context. it was a private show so their friend could propose :) as seen by other pics in the folder

[autistme]

Thursday performing a private show at Rebel, May 3rd, 2007 ©Matt Kleinschmidt

[sugarushwriting]

exotic dancer lee minho x reader

you just ended a relationship, your friends try to cheer you up

adult content featured, read at your own discretion

too lazy to proof read sorry

“come on it’ll be fun!”

“momo, you’re talking about male strippers!”

“ah ah, exotic dancers!” momo tsked.

momo and your three other friends dragged you into the strip club where the exotic male dancers were.

background context: you were just dumped by your fiancé of 6 months, who claimed he didn’t love you or wanted to be with you.

you both had dated on and off for 3 years, before he finally proposed 6 months ago. turns out he felt pressured and didn’t want to actually be with you anymore.

3 days ago you found him out in public with his new girlfriend. who yunjin did some digging on, and found your ex had been seeing her for 3 months.

while you two were engaged to be married.

it hurt you. you tried so hard to act like it didn’t, because truth be told, you weren’t actually happy with him. you also felt pressure and the need to be married.

you were in your late twenties, the only thing you had were your career and cats. although that was enough to you, it wasn’t enough for your parents. it wasn’t necessarily that they wanted grandkids, but someone who would take care of you once they pass on.

although you were independent, your parents didn’t want to see you grow old and alone.

inside, the club was all dark lights, poles galore, and shirtless men even more.

before taking a seat, you all stopped by the bar to grab drinks.

you weren’t complaining about the view, it’s just something you weren’t used to—or ever did.

“what am i supposed to do?” you asked lost, looking around.

momo led you and your friends to a booth, a pole and stage in the middle.

“relax, let the men dance for you, and tip!”

“do i touch them?”

“only if they invite you to.” momo winked.

you looked at the pamphlet on near the booth’s table, “it looks like this dancer’s name is, cat daddy?”

“mhm, he can be the daddy of my cat, any day.”

“sana, you don’t have a cat.”

“yes i do, and she’s purring right now.” sana laughed, mina, nayeon and momo joining in.

it took you a while to understand the innuendo, and you joined in the laughter, you all quickly quieting down when a man with cat ears came into view near the booth.

with a smirk, he bowed, his muscles showing off in the black sleeveless top he had on, and the tight black pants showing his strong thighs.

“i’m cat daddy, how can i help you beautiful ladies this evening?”

sana and mina fanned themselves, momo engaging in conversation with a pout, “our friend here just went through a terrible break up and could use a great distraction.” momo’s hands were on your shoulder to let the man know who it was.

“i’m sorry to hear that miss, but i can be of great service to distract you.”

“mhm, would you be a great service and give her a private dance? on me, of course, i’ll pay.” momo smirked, catching you off guard as your eyes went wide.

“mo—,” you went to say but she patted your bare thigh to get you to hush.

“of course, is the lady okay with that?” he turned to you, an eyebrow raised up. almost a little taunting or dare for you to say no.

“oh, yeah, i’m okay with that.” you replied.

with a smile, he grabbed your hand, your friends cheering in the back ground. the man led you in hand to the back, where many private rooms where, accompanied by a couple of guards by the main entrance.

“should i call you cat daddy? or is there another name i can use? or maybe you would like to know my name?” you rambled off. you ended up telling the man your name.

with a chuckle, he turned around to face you, a big smile plastered on his face. “i’ll all you kitten. fitting to my name, right?”

“i mean yeah—,”

“and you can just call me daddy.”

your eyes once again went wide, your body rigid at his words. not only your heart thumping in excitement, but also down south.

he pulled you into a vacant room, closing the door behind him, after turning the sign on the door, to say ‘occupied.’

he gestured for you to sit on the chair of the bed in the room.

you choose the bed as it looked the comfiest. “see, uh, i’ve never been at a place like this, so i don’t know what to do,” you rambled as you sat.

he never took his eyes off of you, like a predator stalking his prey.

you kept rambling, unaware of (or trying to ignore) him getting closer to you, soon his face right in front of yours, almost nose to nose.

“lay down kitten.”

“what—,”

you gasped when he forcefully laid you down, you suddenly sitting up on your forearms to look at him like he lost his damn mind.

that thought quickly went away, when he took off his shirt, almost teasingly, rolling his body as he did.

he pulled you closer to the edge of the bed, spreading your legs so he stood in between them. grabbing your hands, he held them against his abs, your fingers scratching along, his head tilting back as he moaned lightly from your cold touch.

he guided your hands up to his chest, and around his neck, as he leaned down to your ear. “if you let me, i can make you forget and feel real good for whatever that ex of yours did.” he whispered, sending shivers down your body.

he leaned back to look you in your eyes, you lost in his. he looked so innocent with those eyes of his, but you had a feeling, deep down, he wasn’t so innocent when it came to bed activities.

you smirked, “as long as the ears stay on.”

he smiled back knowingly, “mhm, kitten, i knew you had a side to you that was masked by that innocent act.” he kissed your neck, and whispered, “call me minho.”

minho kissed you once, before his hands grabbed yours again, this time to his pants, wanting you to help him take them off.

you didn’t expect your girls day to turn into a girls night, let alone a night where you end up at an exotic male dancers strip club.

you didn’t expect tonight to become so entranced by a man you didn’t know, to want to know his secrets, wants, and find out why he chose this job or life.

you for sure didn’t expect to have helped a man undress, leaving on his cat ears, and he undressing you of your short skirt and top.

and lastly, you didn’t even think tonight would end up with you on your back, in said club, in a private room, having said man licking between your folds like it was his last day eating on earth.

“oh—oh my,” you gasped then moaned, your hand shooting to minho’s fluffy hair, your back arching off the bed.

his tongue worked between your folds, nose nudging your clit, fingers used to spread you more open for him.

minho hummed and moaned, quietly showing his appreciation for letting him between your thighs.

for the way he was making you feel, you wanted to thank him. ex definitely forgotten, your mind focused on minho’s tongue, the noises, and the grips his hands now had on your thighs to keep you open as you kept threatening to close the closer you got to coming on his tongue.

“minho, i’m—i’m,”

“i know kitten, let go for me, mhm?” he hummed kissing your clit, before his tongue burrowed deep in your opening, you soon becoming over sensitive.

“fuck!” you gasped out, hand gripped tight on minho’s hair, as you tried to calm your racing heart, your chest up and down.

minho kissed up your stomach, to your naked chest, deciding against overstimulating you. for now.

he licked one free nipple, then the other. he continued his way up to find your neck, his teeth latching the skin for a teasing bite.

minho sat up, knees on either side of you, you reached up to his calvin klein boxers, your fingers teasing the band. it sent chills through minho’s body, his dick becoming harder with the touch.

“don’t tease me, kitten.” he warned through a moan.

you smiled, taking out his dick from the tight black boxers, him hard and tip red, already leaking a bit of precome.

with a lick, you lightly brush led your tongue against his tip, before leaving a kiss. you pulled away, your thumb rubbing circles on the tip.

no hesitation, minho scooted closer as smoothly as he could with his boxers around his thighs, and shoved his dick in your mouth, hitting the back of your throat with a gag.

you quickly adjusting yourself to his thickness, and grabbed minho’s ass in your hand as he did the work by rocking and rolling his hips against your mouth.

“that’s it baby, take all of me.” he moaned quietly, you getting wet by each second. you were ready for him to just ruin you between your legs. to leave his everlasting mark.

with spits of curses and moans, it didn’t take much longer until minho stilled and came in your mouth.

pulling out, some leaked from your lips, minho quickly running his tongue against the side of your lips before he kissed you, tongue forcing itself inbetween your lips, in your mouth.

spit mixing, sloppy and wet, minho slipped the boxers off of his thighs, never detaching his lips from yours. he laid over you, his tip teasing your folds and clit.

you bit his bottom lip, tugging it between your teeth. “ruin me. distract me more.” you wrapped your arms around his neck, as minho plunged his dick into you, no waiting for adjustment.

you let out a gasp at the intrusion, but the gasp was of pleasure, and minho hummed, loving the sounds from your lips.

“i’ll make you forget all about past men you thought could please you, kitten.” minho rolled his hips, to aim deeply into you as much as he could. he wanted to be slow first.

the way he rolled his hips, and whenever he did, hit the right spot in you.

“minho,” you squealed, your hands gripping his shoulders, nails digging into his skin.

“mhm that’s it kitten, scream my name. minho—daddy, will make you forget all about those pathetic excuses of past mistakes.”

you could speak, so you just nodded. eyes closed, as tears threatened to spill at how good he was making you feel.

minho suddenly changed his pace from slow to rough. his hips snapping back before forward, your thighs wrapped around him, thigh on thigh skin slapping.

minho pulled out, getting off the bed, before he tugged you along with him.

you brain was gone dumb, as he guided you to the chair, you gripped one of the arms of the chair, minho lifted your right leg to rest on the chair as the other stayed flat on the floor.

minho plunged into you from behind, the new angle, literally causing your own pussy to squeal along with you. you gasped, mouth wide open, as minho rocked his hips from behind you, fucking into you from behind. cheeks clapping, his hand wrapped around your throat, his veins on display, as his index finger forced its way into your mouth.

you sucked on his finger, his pace never faltering, you felt your pussy leaking from all the wetness coming from you.

his other hand snuck around your body, so two of his fingers could start adding pressure to your clit, sending you to the edge.

you didn’t mean to, but you slightly bit his finger, before screaming out his name. “minho!”

your brain and mind really turned to mush, your eyes rolling to the back of your head, your vision going dark.

you came hard around his dick, sure leaving a ring of white around the base.

but minho’s thrusts became rougher and sloppier, as he chased his own. he was finally overstimulating you into oblivion and submission.

one of your hand gripped the chair’s arm tightly, the other gripping minho’s forearm, he gripped your chin so your head rested against his chest, your eyes facing him the best to your ability.

your body was in a position you didn’t know was possible, back arched so much, minho loved the sight in front of him.

he loved watching his dick disappear between your folds, your ass hitting perfectly against his hips.

with one last thrust, minho grunted, pulling out to leave his come on your backside. thick and warm, he breathed heavily, as if he ran a marathon. you nearly collapsed on the chair, but minho caught you to help you back to the bed, placing you on the bed.

he grabbed some wet wipes that were placed on a table in the room (next to the condoms you both ignored) and wiped his come off of you, and wiping between your thighs gently before he cleaned up himself.

“how, how am i supposed to walk out there like nothing happened?” you groaned out, struggling to sit up.

minho laughed, “you don’t, you do the walk of shame.”

“there was nothing shameful about that.” you grinned. “other than maybe fucking in a club.” you rolled on your back, laid out.

no time to rethink life choices or reminisce about what just happened.

you had to first put your clothes (and find your underwear), then think of how to exit while steady on your feet.

it wasn’t that you were in pain, but more so still over stimulated losing feeling in your legs.

“there’s an exit out back. you can tell your friends to pick you up there if you want to avoid lookers.”

you nodded. “best idea.”

minho, back dressed, cat ears still on, he walked out to find your friends. you quickly dressed, still not finding your underwear, but did your best to look presentable.

minho walked back to the private room. “they’ll meet you out back with a rideshare. is your place far?”

you shook your head, “we rented a hotel a block away. we live about 2 hours away from here.”

“different city to avoid people you may know?”

you nodded shyly. “yeah.”

minho walked closer to help you stand up, “kind of disappointing you live so far from me kitten. i would have loved to see you again.”

you felt hot, nearly blushing. “um, you don’t need to sweet talk me. you made me feel better and distract me.”

minho’s finger went to your chin, you lift your head up to look into his eyes, “kitten, if you think i do what i just did with you, with anyone, you’re mistaken.”

he kissed your lips tenderly. “why me?” you whispered.

minho shrugged. “honestly don’t know.” he smiled when you initiated a kiss this time. “promise to come see me, again?”

“mhm, maybe.” you teased. minho gripped your hips, and you chuckled, “okay, yes, i will.”

“good. especially since i know you’ll want your blue underwear back.”

[totalbrainr0t777]

Tenya Iida SFW alphabet

༺♡༻AUTHORS / NOTE : I just wanted to start a new series, and alphabets are simple and I love doing them, requests are open!༺♡༻

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

Tenya is in affectionate guy, in the comfort of your own home. PDA is a soft no, as much as he loves you, he'd rather show his affections at home, where he knows no one is watching. It makes him anxious letting his guard down in public.

♡.･✩°｡⋆

B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

Iida was originally afraid to talk to you because he found you so out of his league he had no point in trying. When he did finally talk to you, he was the most attentive and responsible friend you could've asked for. He made an effort to include you, he made sure you got to your room safe, he made sure you were okay. Tenya was your biggest cheerleader

♡.･✩°｡⋆

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

Cuddles are Tenya's guilty pleasure. He won't admit it because he feels it makes him childish and makes him feel small (that's one of his biggest worries, not being strong enough for you). His dream afternoon is you and him, limbs tangled on the couch, and watching a movie. He could care less about the movie, he just wants to watch your face light up with intrigue at the movie, maybe hug you a little tighter when it gets scarier.

♡.･✩°｡⋆

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

Iida isn't the best cook, but he could clean for the olympics. Seriously, that guy is meticulous. Every book on his book shelf is categorised by its dewey number as per the dewey decimal system. Everything in the common room is organised time and time again (Until kirishima and kaminari are in the room). Settling down with you is something constantly on his mind, as he knows you're the love of his life.

♡.･✩°｡⋆

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

A calm, respectful conversation. Quiet and without any fuss, like Iida himself. He's never liked making a fuss, why would this be any difference? Breaking up with him would kill him inside but he knows sometimes it's just for the best.

♡.･✩°｡⋆

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

Commitment has always been an issue for Tenya in a relationship context, he constantly thinks he's going to get hurt. People also aren't his thing, he prefers to be dominant and lead but that isn't how a relationship works, so he is thrown out of his comfort zone. Still, he would want marriage relatively quickly, within a couple years. Marriage is something he knows he's wanted since he met you but wouldn't know how to communicate it.

♡.･✩°｡⋆

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

Iida comes across as blunt, however as you get to know him, you realise he genuinely can't help it. He, physically, is the most gentle there is, you're treated like glass that could break in a second. He tries desperately not to hurt your feelings, or to upset you in any way really.

♡.･✩°｡⋆

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

As stated in the cuddles section, he loves hugs, in private. He likes to hug you tight, so he can protect you, he doesn't hug you too often though.

♡.･✩°｡⋆

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)

The L word isn't used lightly in the Iida household, and tenya has always had to work for his I love yous. Luckily for you, you gave him the safe space for him to admit how he feels about you.

♡.･✩°｡⋆

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

Tenya is very territorial, that applies to you too. He loves you with all his heart and getting you stolen away isn't an option, he will do anything to make sure that doesn't happen. In public, you're glued to his side, everyone knows you and him are together.

♡.･✩°｡⋆

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

Iida is a tender and gentle kisser, but his kisses are still passionate. He loves kissing your lips but kissing your forehead is one of his favourite things to do. He loves how your face lights up when he does it too. Being an old fashioned guy, he likes kisses on the lips but his heart pounds like crazy when you kiss his neck, or even his cheek.

♡.･✩°｡⋆

L = Little ones (How are they around children?)

Tenya isn't good around children, they're out of his control so they make him feel weird. He would love to have children but currently, he wouldn't be ready at all

♡.･✩°｡⋆

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

Mornings are spent with him cuddling you in bed as long as possible, then making you cereal. Or anything you want really, he'll find out how to make it perfectly, he loves to just get up and do things but lazing in bed with you is just as good in his eyes

♡.･✩°｡⋆

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?)

Nights are spent with him worrying about making sure he has everything for the start of the next day. School day or not. Afterwards though, he gets in bed (at 9, 9.30 on weekends) and falls asleep with you curled up in his arms.

♡.･✩°｡⋆

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

Tenya isn't a very open person, talking about himself is hard because the few things he values most are mainly educational and he doesn't want to bother you with that, but over time he'll cave and tell you things personally about him.

♡.･✩°｡⋆

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?)

He can have a lot of patience in the right situation but a lot of little things can really get him all worked up and overstimulate him. He'd never raise his voice at you, or get annoyed at you, unless he needed to.

♡.･✩°｡⋆

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

He has a notebook dedicated to just you. Things you like, things you don't, things you want to do, he doesn't care. Tenya just wants to make sure he treats you like royalty, like you deserve. He constantly spoils you.

♡.･✩°｡⋆

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

The first time you made him cry. Not because he was sad, but because your love overwhelmed him. You were in his room, talking, and you just told him how much you love him. And he burst into tears. But you cradled him in your arms, until you both fell asleep.

♡.･✩°｡⋆

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

He would do anything in his power to protect you, to make you feel safe, no matter what. Whether it's something as small as walking to your dorm room or something as big and being your bodyguard, he wouldn't care regardless, he just wants you to be safe. He doesn't believe you should protect him, because he's the protector.

♡.･✩°｡⋆

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

He makes you feel worshipped, like a deity on special occasions, anniversaries, etc. Even in everyday, he treats you like the only person on earth. Gifts have to be sentimental and expensive for them to be acceptable for you.

♡.･✩°｡⋆

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

How little he regards his own safety when it comes to you. It really upsets you how much he disregards himself for you. He doesn't see an issue with it because he sees himself as a provider, but it constantly gets on your nerves.

♡.･✩°｡⋆

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

His looks don't matter to him at all. Soul and mind counts miles more to Iida.

♡.･✩°｡⋆

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

Without you, he feels bare. You make everything better for him, even something as mundane as class, he just needs you there.

♡.･✩°｡⋆

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.)

Tenya has a stuffed animal (a bunny) he got from Tensei when he was born and he keeps it hidden but he trusts you enough for you to see it.

♡.･✩°｡⋆

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

Trying to make him jealous. It just makes him think that you don't feel loved, it's his biggest pet hate in the whole world. He feels he loves you enough, to try and make him jealous just feels like a slap in the face.

♡.･✩°｡⋆

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habits of theirs?)

Tenya hugs anything in immediate vicinity to him, pillows, blankets, you. He can't help it, he just doesn't feel comfy without something to hug.

♡.･✩°｡⋆

[nalyra-dreaming]

https://www.tumblr.com/nalyra-dreaming/764198172090318848/so-if-the-teaser-is-canon-its-presumably-set

So. The timeline for season 3 present time can stretch from one year to a few months. Personally, I think the 1 year stretch is far better.

February 2022: Lestat founds/discovers a band and names it The Vampire Lestat.

Mid to late June 2022: the tour is green lit but not announced. The band has managers and all the equipment

June 14th 2022 — June 26th 2022: the Dubai interview.

Early July 2022: Louis searches for Lestat, finds him in NOLA, flies there and they reunite.

July 2022 - mid to late October 2022: Louis and Lestat rekindle their friendship, they have their own lives but are in contact. Armand starts stalking Daniel.

February 2023: Lestat’s band blows up all of a sudden. The tour is announced.

February 2023 — April 2023: Lestat and Louis talk to each other, check on each other and hang out. One time, they end up sleeping together and Louis leaves and ghosts Lestat the next day. They settle on a “casual”, no attachments relationship but both are jealous of the other. Because of this, Lestat writes long face.

April 2023: the book is out. Lestat reads it, is pissed at Louis, they argue. Lestat releases long face and it blows up even more. Meanwhile Armand reaches out to Daniel. They have a month long fling, but Armand disappears after turning Daniel

June (?) 2023: Lestat’s band releases the dates for their tour. Daniel proposes the documentary to Lestat and he accepts.

Late August 2023: the tour starts.

Late August 2023 — October 2023: Lestat is interviewed by Daniel.

October 2023: Louis, Daniel, Armand and Gabrielle + others begin to dream about Maharet and Mekare.

October 21st: the interview is over. Louis enters in possession of the uncut tape through Daniel and watches it. Meanwhile, Akasha awakens.

Roughly October 26th (?): Louis visits Lestat. They argue, communicate, and decide to try again.

October 31st: the San Francisco concert happens, Gabrielle arrives and saves Loustat.

November 1st: Akasha kidnaps Lestat.

I reasoned this way in regards of timeline stretch because editing a book, publishing it, having a four month margine that is already surpassed, interviewing a rock star on tour and editing a documentary take some time. A book needs 6-12 months to be edited and published, and a documentary a few months that they objectively don’t have, if they’re to keep the 31st October concert date.

I’m not sure about the whole angst thing and its magnitude, as I’ve inserted it only because of the loose context given by Long Face and Lestat wearing a wedding ring AND the slit throat chocker. Could also be that Louis tags along on the tour as “just friends” while pining and overcoming their communication issues (someone I don’t remember said Lestat should talk about Magnus in private with Louis and Daniel/only Louis and then a cut version to Daniel). Considering that Louis is already in his Prince Lestat era mindset, it would make sense for him to finally read, as a parallel to 2x08, his book before deciding to try again with Lestat (just for him to be kidnapped).

There’s also things I really liked as theories but wouldn’t know how to incorporate. Maybe Daniel interviewed Lestat as a human? Maybe after that Armand found them both and went after Daniel and turned him? Then Daniel would go to the talk show and talk about both the interview to Lestat and the book? But then how would Louis still be at the penthouse? Would that be before receiving the uncut interview or something?

Thoughts on all of this? What’s your own timeline prediction?

:) (Nice timeline!! Thank you for formatting btw, the email I got was not and I was sooo relieved when I checked here *laughs*)

Soooooo.... I personally think that there's even more time there.

I think editing the book and publishing it takes more time, maybe up to two years, and I would think they will use the "three years" they will have from 2022 to release in 2025 (fingers crossed!) for the show.

For your timeline the reunion would need to be the "contested" one, aka not having happened that way, because otherwise Lestat's state of mind would not fit I think.

But I also think that once they have met again that Louis and Lestat will fall into the "Netflix and chill" era that they have in later books, which you also describe here.

All in all I think the timeline makes sense, it will be very interesting to see what the show does with it!!

As I said, I am not convinced that Daniel is already a vampire for the documentary, but that will remain to be seen. I think the show might mix things up there (like they mixed Merrick in, for example) - because as you said(!) - Louis seems a bit in the PL era mind set in Dubai... and if he is, if they pull that up - then the whole story might be mixed up, re events. (Also they already introduced Fareed, and Amel, arguably).

Ahhh, I don't know^^. I like your timeline :), even if I am writing my own (a bit different one) in a fic right now, forgive me for not detailing here too much. It does keep to the elements you also pulled up^^, but shapes them a bit differently, because I have a different starting point.

It would be cool if you came back after season 3, to compare notes :))))

[lostloveletters]

Leave a Tender Moment Alone (John Brady x OFC)

Summary: Private Kate Woodward and Lieutenant John Brady are reluctant to wear their hearts on their sleeves, but they're each starting to wonder if maybe they should.

Word count: 1k

Note: Meet Woody! Title comes from the Billy Joel song. For a little bit of context, this takes place before Damn Yankees, but you don't need to read that to understand what's going on in this fic. Do not interact if you’re under 18, terf or radfem, or post thinspo/ED content.

Warnings: Light period-typical misogyny. Inevitable historical and technical inaccuracies.

Private Kate Woodward had a child clinging to her leg, another hanging onto her back, both attached to her like little monkeys. 

The village kids were always in the mechanics’ orbit. Woody wanted to be a good role model for them, even if she didn’t quite know what that looked like. She wasn’t exactly keen to admit it to anyone except Holly, but offering her expertise as a mechanic to the WAC wasn’t entirely out of love for country.

After years of wandering aimlessly up and down the West Coast, she woke up one morning and realized she didn’t like her friends (if she could even call them that), working almost exclusively on stolen cars because she couldn’t hold down a legitimate mechanic job, and especially not the type of person she’d become. So she signed up, expecting to be working on jeeps or trucks, but instead found herself applying her knowledge to planes. 

Her first commanding officer, Lieutenant Deanna Seberg from Glendale, designated her Woody to differentiate her from the dozen or so Catherines and Kathleens who used Kate as a nickname.

She liked being Woody. Woody was tough and competent yet approachable, likable, even. She tried to be good. Helpful but not too imposing. Kept her cursing to a minimum. Checked her temper. Had to. She was part of something bigger than herself, bigger than any of them could have ever conceived of. Finally found a way out through it. She couldn’t afford to fuck it up.

While the handful of other mechanic girls had gotten their experience through family garages or the odd trade school, they accepted her claim that hers came from messing around with friends’ cars. She was good at what she did. No need to push it. 

Thankfully, Kenny had their backs, the young Arkansan drawling that where he came from, women weren’t afraid of getting their hands dirty to get the job done by the end of the day, whatever it may be. If that also involved entertaining English laborers’ kids, fascinated by Americans and their planes, she’d try her damnedest.

“Miss Woody!” Billy shouted, making a running start toward her. 

“Wait!” she yelled. “I can’t—“

Just before impact, which would have surely sent her directly to the ground with three children in tow, Billy was scooped up in Lieutenant John Brady’s arms. 

“You could take off with that speed, buddy,” he said, flying the boy around for a moment before setting him on his feet and ruffling his hair.

Woody smiled as the other two children climbed off of her. “You saved the day, Lieutenant.”

“Miss Woody, now you’ve got to give the hero a kiss!” Sarah, the young girl who’d been hanging off her back exclaimed with a flourish of her hands. “That’s what happens in the stories.”

Brady shook his head. “Miss Woody doesn’t have to—“

Woody gave him a quick peck on the cheek, their small audience of Billy, Sammy, and Sarah giggling and cheering in delight. “Why don’t you kids go make some trouble for Mr. Kenny?”

The children ran off, arms spread out wide as they imitated planes themselves. God, had she ever been that carefree as a kid?

Brady cleared his throat. “I came by to see how the fort’s doing.”

“And just in time. That would’ve been a hell of a tumble if it weren’t for you,” she said.

“You’re great with those kids.”

She smiled. “Thanks. I try to be the kind of adult I wish I had around when I was their age, you know?”

“That’s good of you.”

“C’mon, I’ll show you what we’ve done so far.”

He stuck close to her as they made their way around the damaged plane, Woody taking care to let him know exactly what had been fixed so far and where they were having a bit of trouble. Shuffled a little closer to her when she pointed at one of the engines.

He smelled nice, a reprieve from the mix of fuel, motor oil, and sweat. Not to mention the occasional whiff of cow manure drifting through the air on a strong breeze. For a moment, she envisioned her arms around him, burying her face in the crook of his neck while something soft and slow filled the room. Wondered how he’d hold her.

Shit. Stop daydreaming.

She glanced at him every so often. His expression didn’t change much. Brows furrowed, handsome face etched with concern as he scrutinized the state of his plane.

“Really, I’ve seen worse,” she said.

He scoffed. “That’s reassuring.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I don’t need you to tell me that.”

Certainly wasn’t the first plane he crash-landed, but as soon as the words left his mouth, he could practically hear his mother’s voice, ‘John Brady, I did not raise you to speak to young ladies that way.’ Except he’d hardly consider Woody a young lady. She was a mechanic with a mouth when she got a few beers in her. More rough-and-tumble than any of the girls he grew up with.

Everyone seemed to like her, though. Hell, he sure did. Hambone already made a stupid comment about how he should ‘ask Woody to kiss it better’ when his fort, so comically named Brady’s Crash Wagon, went up in smoke. Probably why it smarted to feel like she pitied him or something.

Smarted worse to see the way her lips pressed in a thin line. Kept her gaze anywhere but him.

“Kenny told me you stay out here late working on it. Thank you,” he said, a stubborn substitution for an apology. “I appreciate that.”

“You’re welcome.”

Silence. 

Wasn’t sure what else he could say, and she was doing everything but telling him to buzz off. 

“Well, I’ll let you get back to it, Woody.”

She nodded. “See you around, sir.”

He tried not to kick himself too much as he walked off, not entirely sure where he was going.  

“Hey Lieutenant!” Woody shouted when there was a few yards of distance between them.

He stopped in his tracks, turning around to look at her. “What is it?”

“You got something—“ She gestured to her own cheek.

He wiped the spot on his cheek where she had kissed him and fought back a smile at the grease smudged on his fingertips.

[greenlantern94to04]

Those Weird Hal Jordan Comics Between "Reign of the Supermen" and "Emerald Twilight"

I've always been fascinated by that brief, strange period in Green Lantern and Justice League comics between Coast City's destruction and Hal Jordan's heel turn, also known as "The Sling Era" (known by me, I just came up with it). The way Hal was handling the death of his 7 million bestest friends varied wildly from issue to issue, almost as if the writers were trying to tell us that he was already having a psychotic breakdown.

Of course, we all know that Hal only behaved that way because DC had no clue what they were gonna do with the character until they went and did it, but it's still kinda fun to look back at that period and search for hints that couldn't possibly be there. So let's do that:

Justice League International #56-57 (October 1993)

These issues came out on the same month as Green Lantern #46 (the Hal vs. Mongul issue) and clearly take place before Coast City went boom, since Hal isn't wearing the sling on his arm yet. I'm including them here anyway because of this telling exchange between Hal and Power Girl, who'd recently found out she was pregnant. For context, Hal and PG had gotten pretty close while they were both in the JLI... but not as close as Hal would have liked:

Maybe it wasn't Coast City's destruction what drove Hal mad -- it was the thought of Aquaman getting into his "girlfriend's" pants before him. (It turned out PG had been magically impregnated by Atlantean wizards, so at least Hal was in the right ballpark.)

JLI #57 includes this amusing moment after Metamorpho says the League won't be the same without Elongated Man and his wife Sue:

Haha, yeah, a member of the JLI turning evil... can you imagine?

Green Lantern #47 (November 1993)

This Green Arrow team-up is pretty much a filler issue with a couple of references to Coast City's destruction thrown in. No one seems that distraught about the fact that their city just exploded. For the most part, you wouldn't know this was a post-"Reign of the Supermen" issue if Hal wasn't wearing that sling on his arm.

Hal and Oliver Queen get caught up in a dumb plot involving Hal's ex, Carol Ferris, his pal Tom "Pieface" Kalmaku, and robot doubles of Carol's dead dad created by her mom due to her "nervous problems." The most intriguing part is Ollie telling Hal "I'm seeing something in your eyes that I never saw there before." (Spoilers: it's murder.)

Later, Hal gives a speech about finally moving on from Carol and "letting go of the past" (so, the opposite of what he's about to do). He also implies that he's gonna be pursuing another of his love interests, Olivia Reynolds, who's trying to get financing for a GL toy line.

The issue ends with Olivia noticing that one of her Green Lantern action figures "lost his head." That's probably the only intentional foreshadowing for "Emerald Twilight" in these issues, but it could just as easily be a tease for another dumb plot that never happened because they switched writers after this issue.

Superman #83 (November 1993)

As mentioned when I covered this issue at the Superman '86 to '99 blog, Hal is in a pretty dark mood here. When Lex Luthor Jr. shows up uninvited to the superheroes' "funeral" for Coast City, Hal bluntly says "This is a private affair. Get rid of him." Then, when Lex says they could salvage some alien tech from Engine City, Hal insists that they just "let it die."

Aquaman (there's that jerk again) takes issue with Hal's idea of dumping a city-sized engine into the ocean. Superman tries to calm everyone down, but Hal snaps and says: "I'm tired of talking! (...) My friends are buried under this junk heap and I'm not about to let it stand as their tombstone!" Later, after Engine City has been safely disposed of and Superman has erected the monument to the dead, there's an exchange between Hal and Ollie that's more meaningful than anything in Green Lantern #47:

Okay, "Can't win 'em all!" isn't the most sensitive way to talk about genocide, but you have to admit it's in-character.

Justice League International #59-60 (December 1993-January 1994)

Hal skipped JLI #58, and the next two issues are mostly set in an alternate timeline caused by a time-traveler who undid the origins of several superheroes, including Hal himself. Conveniently, this means that these issues don't have to deal with our Hal's mental state. In the alternate timeline, Guy Gardner is the heroic Green Lantern while Hal is his biggest fan. Once they figure out the truth, Guy decides to use the ring to go back in time and fix the timeline but Hal tries to stop him, because he knows Heroic Guy will turn into Guy Guy in the corrected reality.

Pretty ironic that Hal didn't want to restore the timeline because he was afraid of Guy losing his "sanity," and then he was the one who went insane (while Guy entered what's probably his most heroic period). Good Guy ultimately sacrifices himself for the greater good, making Hal think: "If this does turn me into Green Lantern... I can only pray that I'll have half the courage and nobility of Guy Gardner!"

Once Hal's memory is restored, they ask him if he can use the ring to travel to the 70th century and stop the villain from creating this whole mess in the first place, but he says he'd "need the whole Green Lantern Corps to do that!" So Hal thinks that if he had the power of every GL, he could change the course of history? Interesting.

Justice League America #83 (December 1993)

Hal is wearing the sling in this issue, so it's definitely set after Coast City's destruction, but he's perfectly calm and seems more concerned with regular League business than reshaping the universe. Maybe he's just trying to bury himself in work?

Valor #14 (December 1993)

Another Sling Era issue. Valor asks some Justice Leaguers if by any chance they know any cures to lead poisoning, which he's currently dying of. Hal says "I wish to God I could help... but there are limits to what my power ring can do." But... maybe there shouldn't be?!

Bloodbath #1-2 (December 1993)

A sling-wearing Hal shows up in the two-part finale of the regrettable "Bloodlines" crossover, though the sling is missing in some panels (perhaps he was already getting better). The only noteworthy interactions here are: 1) Deathstroke telling Hal "Remember that I'm one of the good guys today," 2) Hal referring to the Guardians of the Universe as "control freaks," and 3) Hal telling Superman not to beat himself up because he wasn't around to stop the alien invasion of Metropolis (he was dead at the time). This last scene is by far the best part of the issue, because of a typo when Superman is supposed to say "Poor Metropolis":

Geez, what are they feeding those cows down there?

Eclipso #15-16 (January-February 1994)

Sling Hal and other superheroes (plus Lex Jr., for some reason) talk in the United Nations about the menace of Eclipso, who at the time was president of a small country and had access to nuclear weapons. Then Eclipso shows up and beats them all in two panels, literally.

Hal's only role in Eclipso #16 is as an unconscious body on the floor of the UN. I think I'd also go crazy from the humiliation.

Justice League International #61 (February 1994)

And finally, Hal's last appearance as a member of the JLI consisted of him saying he wished he could help, but he has "pressing business as a Green Lantern!" That pressing business turned out to be crying on a crater and then... well, we'll see that soon enough.

I agree with whoever that guy is: Hal's "I'll be in touch soon" DOES sound pretty ominous. Note that this issue takes place directly after the end of JLI #60 (Hal must have put on the sling between panels). This means that the last thing Hal Jordan did before the start of "Emerald Twilight" was traveling to the far future to stop a supervillain from reshaping history. Wonder if that gave him any ideas...

NEXT: "Emerald Twilight"! And the guy this blog is supposed to be about finally shows up!

[guster-animations]

The Spire Script Saga

hello, i’m guster, and i’ve been trying to decipher the cipher introduced in splatoon 3’s side order DLC, dubbed “spire script”, since 15 months ago. the script is now finally on its way to being deciphered, so i wanted to detail how we got here in this post.

first of all, i did not at all do this alone; i’m part of a team of people who have all been working together for nearly a year to solve this script. the group is made up of four people: myself, cackle, @plinkamoon, and artzinil. we all bounced theories off each other, kept the group in check, and contributed ideas and tools in unique ways. magical miracle girl fia and kerfuzzle were also a huge help at many points too.

special thanks also go to: rassicas and their discord server for setting the standard for script deciphering and providing resources and a space for us to work together in; diamcreeper for providing game textures; and my friend oxii for coming up with the name “spire script”.

it’s been a hell of a journey and i’m dead serious when i say we would not have gotten to this point without every single one of these people. seriously, thank you.

the tale of spire script begins on september 14th, 2023, when the first gameplay trailer for side order dropped.

in rassicas’ private discord server, within an hour or two of the trailer’s release, artzinil noticed something that seemed like a new script on side order’s newly added official webpage.

several other graphics using the script were quickly found on the webpage, but not much could be determined from these small bits of text with little or no context.

five days later, on september 19th, 2023, graphics were released on the official splatoon twitter containing more spire script.

cackle noticed that both graphics in this tweet showed the color chip palette, and that there was script text on it—but the render of the palette had square script, while the 2D art had spire script in the same place. they checked to see if these strings matched up, and they did!

this would later be called the “palette lead”. it was the first of many potential leads that were found, and in fact the only one from the entire actual game which turned out to be correct.

cackle then tried to apply this lead to the color chips seen in the same graphic, but not too much effort was made and they moved onto deciphering things that used other, already deciphered, scripts, because this one was obviously not going to be solved using just the color chips and the text on the chips were probably gibberish.

meanwhile i try to solve the script with just the color chips

on the same day as cackle’s discovery of the palette lead, and with the exact same render from twitter, my journey with spire script began.

someone in a large discord server which i was active in at the time noticed that there seemed to be a new font in a graphic that had been posted today. i immediately took it upon myself to decipher this script with literally nothing besides the color chips (i didn’t know about any of the other places it was)

this seems like an incredibly stupid and irrational thing for me to do, and it objectively was, but it is somewhat less so when put into context. basically, i wasn’t really expecting to solve the cipher all by myself, more so just looking for something to kill time and hyperfocus on during my extremely boring classes.

my then-teammate oxii came up with the name “spire script” during practice that night, which i adopted from that point onward.

i spent hours each day for the next week or so attempting to brute-force the script using a spreadsheet text slotter (the current version has more examples than it did at the time), assuming that the text on each chip was meaningful. i also documented most potential combinations that i thought of, at first in my notes app, and then a bit later in a google doc which i would then use as a journal of sorts for all my endeavors with spire script.

on october 18th, 2023, i shared my findings about the script by adding “spire script” onto inkipedia’s page for inkling scripts and languages.

i still somehow had no idea that there was anyone else working on this script

…

and then nothing happened!

pre-release

the next pieces of spire script came five months later, with the second gameplay trailer for side order on february 13th, 2024.

i’d been sharing my findings on the script in many splatoon discord servers since september, including a modding and datamining server, and the next day, on february 14th (the 15th in their time zone), plink shared a finding in that server.

this was the 8-ball lead, based on the fact that the spire on the infinity ball seemed to match the deepsea script on octo expansion’s 8 ball (when the former was flipped around). if this lead were true, it would mean that some of spire script’s characters map to both letters and numbers.

on february 16th i finally connected with cackle on the modding server, and on february 17th i reached out to rassicas for help on tumblr and got invited to their discord server. plink joined the next day.

this is where things really started happening, now that we had the full team together and talking to each other.

the mixture of our different methods and ideas brought a lot of things about. having a text slotter spreadsheet and shorthand for all the script characters, which i’d developed back in september, were new to the members of rassicas’ server. both were very imperfect when i introduced them—the shorthand was slow to write with and i finally changed it only in december 2024, and cackle developed the text slotter into something much more organized.

the nature of spire script meant that we had to be much more thorough and resort to unconventional methods— cackle even spent hours analyzing our examples for letter frequency and comparing it to other scripts— and everyone added something to that and made it better.

the new promo material gave us several examples but only one lead besides plink’s 8-ball deduction, that being the spire script on the 8-ball goal.

it’s not a long string of characters! it’s only 4! and the words “goal” and “sink” are both 4 letters long so maybe it says one of those!

that was it that was the lead

release

the side order DLC finally came out on february 21st, 2023, introducing us to many false leads.

the most prominent of these was the pixel pearl lead, discovered by plink. there’s a pixelated pearl icon in a cutscene and when viewing dev logs— she has speech bubbles with runic script text in the cutscene, and spire script in the dev logs.

this text matched up perfectly with each other, and this method has historically been the most reliable when solving splatoon scripts. it didn’t conflict with the palette lead, either! so logically that means it’s trustworthy right??

somehow the answer is no.

this spire script text was mimicking how the runic text appeared. it’s actually evil.

pixel pearl was also used to find a few strings that seemed to be alphabet fragments, and some people used those.

there were other fake leads like this as well— the aforementioned 8-ball lead is an example, as well as text on bounce pads that lined up with the square script saying “TAKOSPO” on variants from the other story modes (found by cackle).

gas lead. i’m not sure what else to say

two leads did turn out to be correct, though, and they were found with the help of the text slotter!

two lines on the website seemed to make up words. i guessed that one of them said “name” based on what my text slotter gave me, and cackle guessed that another said “image area�� from their own slotter.

these were somewhat random guesses and somehow they ended up being correct

lastly…

that’s not spire script. that’s the runic script letter for Q.

for some goddamn reason, runic Q is in spire script. our current running theory is that runic script was used as a template for spire—pixel pearl could be evidence for that—and the Q was accidentally left in and not changed.

the letter Q is one of the rarest in the english language and difficult to hit while keysmashing. so even though this is the only time runic Q appears like this with spire script, it could still be the letter Q.

does this mean we’ll have to put it on the graphic?? idk

janen ??

there were plenty other places with spire script found in side order, but none that seemed to mean anything or provide any clues. however, on july 24th, 2024, the script made a surprise reappearance in a place completely unrelated to the spire for some reason.

lemuria hub.

a 5-letter word is visible on a sign for a noodle shop in lemuria hub for some reason

this currently deciphers to “JANEN”, though any of those characters could map to a second letter. it’s probably a misspelling of “ramen”, as we already have different cipher characters for R and M. i personally think the first character could also map to D or T, since those are next to R on a keyboard, but i don’t know for sure as of writing this.

hey look it’s like blender

for some reason cackle came back to spire on august 8th, 2024, and noticed something that hadn’t been seen before.

an in-game x-y-z chart (for some 3d modeling program) has each axis labeled with a spire script character. these might actually be x, y, and z! though we don’t know which characters are which letters yet.

bancala walker

”bancala walker”, the japanese artbook for splatoon 3’s DLCs, was announced during the grand festival, on september 9th, 2024.

while the promo pages didn’t provide much in terms of a lead*, just random keymashing as usual, it did give us a preview at what would help us to begin deciphering the script.

*i did think that maybe the spire text below “drone megahorn laser” could be some corruption of those words, but i didn’t try too hard on that thankfully

the full bancala walker book released on december 13th, providing a plethora of spire strings. it didn’t go great at first…

at least i finally decided to fix my crappy shorthand.

not much happened, though

then, on january 8th, 2025, cackle’s copy of bancala walker arrived, and he found something.

he found a line of spire script that had evidently been copy-pasted from a longer string of square on the same page. this is a strategy that rassicas and company used when deciphering using examples from haikara walker, and it works just as well here, too.

it turns out that plink noting the page of every script example in the artbook on our text slotter spreadsheet, and the twitter user calmeremerald’s scan of page 19 specifically being lower quality, were what caused cackle to notice this. plink was looking at that scan for script samples and wrote down if any were too hard to make out. so when cackle got his copy, he made sure to take better pictures of the smaller script on those pages. this is what made him notice that the word lengths lined up here.

as it turns out, this text lineup from bancala walker supports, and is supported by, the palette lead (the very first lead)! it also proves the “name” and “image area” guesses to be correct.

a random cube scanner screen from the background of a stage also seems to have meaningful text. we haven’t fully figured that one out yet, though.

the next day i found another piece of matching text. this one only added one new piece of information, but it’s something!

with this, we are the most confident about spire script that we ever have been. there are, unfortunately, basically no meaningful bits of text with this script, but it was really fun to work with this team and i’m glad it’s amounted to something.

[shigarakisdumbwhore]

Some Realistic Shigaraki Headcannons (in my opinion)

And debunking some "realistic" ones I've already seen (with evidence on why I feel this way). This is just my opinion and something fun I wanted to do with an analysis, you're more than welcome to disagree or have other points!! But if you like romantic Shigaraki headcannons and character analysis, read on!!! These headcannons are also gender neutral.

Some of these I found on Tik Tok that I disagreed with or only slightly disagreed with. This analysis will also heavily be supported by the way he treats the league members. Manga spoilers as well!!

"Tomura Shigaraki would love PDA and he'd cherish you and need someone gentle to hold him." I do disagree with this. I would not say Shigaraki hates physical touch but he would not be showing off PDA in public or even the league. I feel like he's more of a private guy when it comes to that. He may even say it would hurt his representation of "The Symbol of Fear" when he's coddling his partner. Which yeah, I would agree too. However, he would definitely come off as a jealous and possessive type if someone got the wrong idea you weren't together. He'd definitely be a complicated partner

"Tomura Shigaraki is the type of guy to purposely make his partner cry because it gives him a power trip." When Twice could not duplicate the Yakuza Bullets, Shigaraki did not lash out on him. I do feel like people characterize him incorrectly because he's a villain but we have a well established view of the relationship with Shigaraki vs the other members of the league. I don't see him doing things to make you cry for funsies. Another point to make is how he got mad on Twice's behalf. He even complimented Twice for overcoming his trauma.

"Tomura shigaraki is the type of guy to remind his partner daily he could take their life at any moment just to keep them in a constant state of paranoia." There's a few points I have to make with this one. Except during the beginning of Shigaraki's growth, he has always been moderately respectful to the other league members. Sure in the beginning he was a buttface to Dabi, Toga, and Stain, but we're talking about post-growth Shigaraki but pre-AFO Shigaraki. I don't see him having any reason to lash out and threaten his comrades, much less his lover for no good reason. He has a dream to destroy and welcomes his friends to destroy with him and create a world in which they could live freely. This has been stated in multiple occasions but most specifically this panel with Toga.

Another point I'd like to make is when he was talking about destroying everything and everyone, in his vision he did not see another league member at all. Well, who cares? It's just a bunch of pictures. For one, Horikoshi has a really good habit of tending to detail and portraying a story through visual arts. Secondly, we see Stain and Overhaul in this vision but not the rest of the league.

"Tomura shigaraki is the type of guy to constantly blame society for his shortcomings because he can never accept he's wrong." This I can agree with to an extent. Early Shigaraki would definitely have been a man-child incapable of actually being wrong. It's either society or you who caused whatever argument. Shigaraki later on... I think it would really depend on the context. He was able to recognize how immature he was in the past and improved. That's what makes the Meta Liberation Army Arc so revolutionary to Shigaraki's growth as a character. He's finally able to admit he's wrong and do better to destroy. However, in a relationship, I do agree.

"Tomura Shigaraki is the type of guy to off all his partners friends not because he's jealous but because it's more 'convenient'." This is a direct copy and paste, I'm not sure if it's the grammar but I don't really understand. Would I consider Shigaraki jealous? Yes, 100%. Would he kill just to destroy. Also yes. But as mentioned before, Shigaraki does care about the other members. Here he doesn't directly say "I miss Kurogiri" but like Toga says, he doesn't deny it. I think he's just incapable of being that truly vulnerable verbally. So if it affects you, he would not do that. But if he got jealous with someone flirting with you, I could see him killing them for that reason but never admitting why.

"Tomura shigaraki the type of guy to ignore his partner when their upset." I disagree with this not to an extent but in a different way. Because I don't believe it's that he's intentionally ignoring you with the objective of being a buttface but simply bc he cannot comprehend it. He does not know how to console someone who is upset, therefore ignoring you.

"Tomura shigaraki the type of guy to constantly put the leagues needs over his partners because his thirst for destruction matters more." This one is just a lot to unpack. If this was the case, why would he tell Toga his comrades are an exception when it comes to what they want. I think indirectly he'd be meeting your needs but this is also assuming you are a league member yourself and not just labeled as "Shigaraki's Significant Other". He definitely wouldn't meet your needs in a traditional boyfriend way so don't expect that. Don't expect cute words of affirmations, gift giving, and all the love language nonsense. He loves in his own love language and if you're with Shigaraki, that is just a hurdle you'll have to accept.

"Will never understand how he's in the wrong and will never apologize no matter how hurt you are." Yeah, I agree. Shigaraki does not know how to apologize. His pride and ego is wayy too big for that. Would he feel guilty inside? Yeah, probably, but he'd never admit that. It'll always be a cycle of not talking to each other in anger to forgetting it happened and moving on. Is this toxic? Yeah, a little, but let's be real. You're dating THE leader of the LOV.

"He's always hot and cold, one day he will praise you constantly and the next deem you useless" Early manga Shigaraki would definitely do this. Not because he actually thinks you're useless but because he's probably frustrated that something didn't go his way as seen with Kurogiri. We know he's very fond of Kurogiri but he does act like a buttface to him sometimes. Later on in the manga, after Shigaraki got some chill I think he would have gotten over this and learned to appreciate the efforts and shortcomings.

"Brutally honest and does not feel bad at all, this means pointing out insecurities of yours aswell." Yeah. I don't really have much to follow up with this on other than Shigaraki just says what's on his mind, no matter the intent. Targeting your insecurities specifically, idk about all that considering how he was with Twice's trauma and guilt about Big Sis Magne's death.

"He was raised AFO guys let's be honest he's probably so manipulative it's not even attractive". I really don't agree with exactly how it's worded but I can't disagree. I don't think he's manipulative the same way AFO is. We've never seen him achieve the same level of manipulation that AFO has but we have seen Shigaraki manipulate things to get his way. Would that include trivial relationship things? No, I'd say not. This is a tricky one and very opinionated. So I think it's up for debate or observation.

"If AFO noticed Tomura had a relationship beyond just using someone he'd definitely force him 2 break it off and Tomura would not object." Based off how we see Shigaraki and Spinner get along, I'd disagree heavily. Shigaraki wasn't some obedient kid the whole time. We saw him get a lil sassy with AFO and Garaki. I think Shigaraki would object but I also don't see AFO interfering. Shigaraki made a lot of mistakes during his uphill climb to becoming The Symbol of Fear. Many mistakes that AFO probably saw as useless but let Shigaraki make them so he could grow on his own. Also meddling into a romantic relationship by forcing Shigaraki to cut you off would probably dampen the trust and relationship. That's not to say AFO wouldn't meddle, but he'd want you to probably strengthen the hate and need for destruction. He may even use you as a pawn in the future. Shigaraki would have to say something at some point. Being with how much he gets along with Spinner, as we see here they're talking about games, Shigaraki would want people to be friends with after being lonely for so long. That's why he always played solo. He never had anyone.

"No he would not cuddle you and tell you how pretty you are, a relationship with him would be parasitical" I agree. If Shigaraki isn't the PDA type of guy, I don't see him being overly clingy and touchy in general. Shigaraki using you though, no. We have multiple examples of Shigaraki showing he cares about the league. Therefore, caring about you.

"He would use you and even if he did love you it wouldn't be in a romantic way. Similar to how AFO loves Yoichi you'd simply be more of a possession rather than an equal." I don't even know how many times I have to say that Shigaraki respects the other leagues as equals. I can only use 10 pictures this entire post and I've used them all up. However, we all remember when Shigaraki beat ReDestro and he gave all the members of the league a division in power so they all got the same respect and leadership as him. Sure Shigaraki was THE leader of it all but didn't put his friends below him.

Okay, that's my analysis. You can disagree respectfully, add points, debate points, whatever you'd like as I'm interested in seeing more. Shigaraki is my favorite character and I feel very close to him because I can relate. But one thing that makes me sad is when his character is misjudged and people make him out to be an abuser. People whose favorite character is Shigaraki are not terrorists or abusers. I'm not saying a relationship with Shigaraki would be perfect either. It wouldn't be ideal and would definitely be toxic.

If you've read this far, thank you!

[rejaytionships]

Father for that one ask game! Have a fantabulous day!

thank you for the ask! i hope you have an awesome day as well :D

---

[i use myself and my s/i arnie interchangeably]

What made me like him

Out of universe, I initially got into him when designing a FusionFall s/i (CVM), and her whole schtick was being an accidental fusion of a bunch of different inserts. Since KND was one universe in the game, I wanted to make a sona for that. I thought Father was cute, and then I got into the lore a little bit and I enjoyed how over the top he was, but also that he was surprisingly chill and loved baking as well. Also, his daddy issues were a little too relatable to pass up (/lh).

In universe, the reason my insert Arnie falls for Father is because after working for him for a while and also him being the only person she would regularly hang out with (until she met her best friend Lou), she eventually found him charming and would start to see the more vulnerable side he tends to hide under his intimidating villainous exterior.

My favorite thing about him

Honestly? I love how over the top and extra this man is.

Kids want a birthday cake? Yeah, let's make an ice cream cake for the kids... except the cake is an entire spaceship, and after a laser goes off destroying all ice cream on Earth, it will also give the kids the privilege of having the last ice cream ever.

It really plays into what I like about him: just how silly and fun he can be.

I also really like the moments where he's not trying to be a villain. I loved it when he joked around with a KND operative, or made a truce with them so they could save a coveted box of cereal, or even when he gets to mention his hobby for baking; stuff like that, those are just the examples atop my head. He's literally just Some Dude underneath all of that "canonically the most evil villain (outside of his own father)" stuff.

It really shows that despite being comically devious, he's still human. I love it when evil people are actually really silly... *twirls hair*

Nicknames we have for each other

For context, Father is his business name and he's actually just some dude named Benedict.

Arnie would call him him Ben, or more commonly Benny, but would also use casual pet names, primarily dear but also babe/baby and hon(ey). She's more likely to use the pet names in public, while only calling him his name in private for the sake of Father's anonymity.

Conversely, he'd call Arnie only by her full first name when around other villains, but at home? The big one is honey pie, but in his arsenal he also uses dearie, sweetie, darling, sugar plum... just about anything silly or sweet he can possibly think of, really!

A headcanon of our relationship

Father obviously feels socially stunted, given I doubt he's got many (or any) actual friends in canon past being acquainted somewhat with the other villains. So, I think despite his ability to woo people (the result of such I'll mention in the final bullet point) he absolutely doesn't know how to maintain that sort of ability to show affection once someone agrees to be with him.

This is why with Arnie he will go all out when it comes to gifts.

Showing emotional affection via words and PDA? Sure, he could technically do that... or he could show how he feels by being the dude who will buy someone a treat whenever they so desire, except the treat is dialed up to eleven.

Craving a tub of ice cream? Why not have a whole factory of ice cream where you have any flavor at your disposal! Want to go to the beach? Let's pay a whole lot of money to privately reserve the entire coast for an afternoon, he can pull the strings! Saw a pretty dress at the store? Not only will you get that, but you're also getting matching shoes, jewelry, and whatever other possible clothing accessory could go with it (special handbag included); and screw it, next time you want a dress, he'll have stuff personally tailored for you! Hungry for literally any baked good? Hope you're excited for him to personally make a literal lifetime's worth of it from scratch!

He accidentally goes full-blown sugar daddy mode (which is funny because sometimes the sugar is actual sugar and sometimes it's what the typical sugar is for that title: money) and the only payment he wants from Arnie (or any partner, really) is a shred of validation or affection in response. Literally you could throw the man any bone; he's so starved for positive attention, that Arnie showing up and unconditionally loving him absolutely short-circuits him and makes him go above and beyond to even try and show a fraction of the care he feels like he gets from Arnie.

Arnie does slowly help him tone it down to a more reasonable level, but it took a while given this was his primary way of shouting I LOVE YOU SO MUCH from the rooftops. It took a whole lot of assuring him that she knows he loves her as much as she loves him. You'll be please to know his spending habits on his honey pie have gone down an entire 4% since they first started dating! /lh

My favorite image of him

Honestly it's hard to choose, so I'll post top three in no particular order.

Anything else!

Mild lore dump moment! This one's a little more on the serious end.

I do headcanon the Delightful Children to be biologically Father's kids, and that the "missing children of Sector Z" weren't actually kidnapped like the popular idea seems to be. We see Father with a child during A.R.C.H.I.V.E., and the history of that episode is implied to be true at the end of the episode. Really makes the whole "where did these kids even come from" question a whole lot nicer of an answer that way.

The reason I bring that up is because I feel like the kids definitely have a complicated relationship with their parents (none of them know their birth mothers, and while they respect Father it isn't like he's all sunshine and rainbow with them; typically, he's pretty strict and holds them to stupidly high expectations).

That's why I think having Arnie there gives the kids a better sense of normalcy, especially because she's not as intense on the whole becoming a perfect villain thing like Father is. The kids are still antagonistic to the KND, but they also are still kids; having a parent that just does chill normal parent stuff adds a lot of balance these kids absolutely needed in their life. Being a villain with papa is fun and all, but sometimes a kid just wants to go to the beach!

That isn't to say Father can't also be fun parent sometimes. He knows how to party down, after all!

[curious-gnostic]

i spent like half of last night thinking about the liam plotline in The Andreadis Gene and i have way too many ideas. IF i reintroduce tobias at his death scene that offers me an opportunity to make jesse so pissed that he punches his best friend in the face.

which like. i love that because it’s jesse. the only “violence” he’s cool with is fencing. it would really fuck everything up. and THEN, with the timeskip, that leaves jesse almost completely alone (still debating if i should keep jesse and liam’s friends from the academy? i think i probably should, but i thought previously how liam’s death would screw up their relationship, especially since they werent there, they dont know the truth, and jesse is so guilty for drawing liam into rhys’s shit that he couldnt possibly risk getting his girls involved, so clearly he needs to go back to being casual and dismissive towards them like he is the rest of the academy.)

however. i don’t know how i could have liam’s death be explainable. maybe they say he was mauled by wolves (true enough. haha werewolf murder moment) but how is he found? how do they explain his presence on the evans estate, and right by the old groundskeeper cabin, no less? AND it feels kind of cheap to add a new character immediately after killing the last off.

BUT it also offers me an opportunity to use liam’s siren song. i was vividly imagining jesse trying to go after him after he tells them to cover their ears and rhys having to grab jesse and cover his for him (this offers “rhys is unaware that he’s a supernatural being” foreshadowing, when he isnt affected by the song. ofc if anyone asks he’d just say “its because i barely even tolerated liam. obviously his stupid little song can’t seduce me”) AND supplies further reasoning for tobias to show up (he heard the howling first, and would probably think “eh, theyre just doing normal wolf stuff” however if he heard the sirensong in addition to that, it gives him an opportunity to go “oh fuck, thats jesse and rhys’s friend”)

the thing i cant decide on is how affected the wolves are by the song. if rhys isn’t affected due to being supernatural… well, i could excuse that as his soul being one that has a soulmate mechanic, which also means birch would be unaffected by sirens (not that there’s going to be a chance to test that) i think maybe some of the wolves are affected, and others aren’t. this would be based upon omegaverse bullshit, like idk, maybe the alpha is immune.

so, the alpha kills liam, and tobias kills the alpha, and, as if we dont have enough shit going on, rhys starts getting his visions and passes out? actually, idk if i kept that part of the story in the second draft plotline. will have to check: it is important to a lot of later plot points that rhys starts getting the memories of the people who’ve shared his soul.

i was ALSO thinking about the final showdown between birch and the gang. it seriously did not make sense in the first draft that he changed his mind about killing rhys solely because he professed his love to jesse.

and i had the brilliant idea of the return of rhys’s mind setting. tobias, using his illegal mind manipulation, in a last-ditch effort to save them all, draws birch into rhys’s mind. there he sees his soulmate oak and oak talks them out of killing rhys. this would have the emotional payoff of one thousand love confessions. but also while we’re there mind-rhys needs to act like its completely obvious that he’s been in love with jesse this entire time.

on another note, i was thinking about arthur’s religious background and instinctual homophobia, and how rhys and jesse would react to arthur going “wait… are you guys *queers*???” (jesse goes “NO ABSOLUTELY NOT” and rhys is like (to jesse) “coward,” (then to arthur,) “yeah, i am. what about it?”) but i was also thinking of it in the context of rhys and arthur having a private conversation about liam and jesse’s relationship, and rhys ensuring that arthur keeps his mouth shut regardless of “what God thinks”.

its interesting to think of the differences between the boys and their queerness. like, liam is the most out-and-proud about it, which is important to jesse learning to accept himself. jesse is aware of who he is, but unable and afraid to show it due to what happened when his dad found out. rhys is completely okay with being gay, but he doesn’t see any reason to talk about it. berry casual. arthur is, obviously, very repressed. tobias offers the perspective that things like that are *normal*—he’s seen it in nature, hes been among the other fae and seen their indifference to gender.

[bukojuiice]

— genshin boys as your college roommates who are head over heels in love with you

ೃ ft. childe, diluc, kaeya, zhongli, and xiao x gn! reader

ೃ 400-600 words per character!  ♡

ೃ warnings: mention of alcohol drinking ( but aside from that, just lots and lots of fluff!)

ೃ this is my very first writing contribution to the genshin fandom, so i hope everyone likes it!  after 5 months of playing genshin, i think it’s safe to say my brainrot for it has finally consumed me and i’m confident enough to brew something up! <3

ೃ genshin impact masterlist 

ೃ if you want to be a part of my taglist, answer this form! ♡

CHILDE:

– You and Childe are the perfect embodiment of the best friends to roommates trope. Whenever you wanna sleep in for 5 minutes more and you’re about to run late for your first class, Childe never fails to slowly drag you out of your bed, laughing as he does so. “Wake up sunshine!” is the first thing you always hear in the morning and you don’t complain if you get to hear his smexy voice anyway. He is a confident flirt and is not afraid to show you how much he cares or how much he pines over you. 

–  He’s always always there to save the day. There was a time when your classmates stood you up on the group project you were making, and guess who comes up to you with glitter, glue, and colored paper? Childe, of course! He stayed up until the wee hours of the night with you just so he can help you finish it. He even promises to set things in a “very civil way” with your absolute jerk groupmates the very next day. You practically hang out with him 24/7 as most of the time he just barges in your shared apartment with some amusement park tickets on hand or to some expensive yoga or judo class. There’s never a dull moment with him and with each passing day, the more you fall harder for him.

–  After a morning jog with him and seeing cute little dogs frolicking around with their married owners, Childe suddenly had the urge to adopt a dog with you.  But, due to a no pets rules established by the landlord, the two of you opt to owning hamsters instead! Childe named his hamster, narwhal (after his favorite animal of course!) whereas you named yours bunny, to match his irrelevant pet name picking. your hamsters both share the same house/cage and even they are pining over each other.

  –  His siblings visit a lot, especially Teucer. At this point, there was never a day the little boy didn’t ask when are you and Childe going to finally become “playground playmates” (a term for lovers that they use in second grade apparently) since the two of you are living with each other and seem so close. Childe is always able to successfully change the topic and shift away from talking about the shared feelings that the both of you have for each other. But, alas, the day had finally came to be and during your monthly trip to the amusement park, Childe confidently confesses to you on top of the ferris wheel.

“So... everyone in my life knows that you’re my best friend. Yea, that’s pretty cool and all but... Can we be more than just that (Y/N)? Is there hope if I think there could be something between us?”

DILUC:

– Diluc is your posh and rich roommate who sounds and looks too good to be true. The fact that you’re roomies with the literal heir to the country’s biggest wine and beverage company sounds like something straight out of a fanfic. But, it was of his volition to decide to live in a penthouse near Teyvat University. It was the doings of his step-brother Kaeya who tricked him into getting a roommate so that he won’t be alone for the rest of his college years... aaand that’s where you come in. practically barged into his life, but, you were a blessing. an angel sent from the skies.

–  He’s quite cold and unapproachable at first, only greeting you whenever he sees you but never bothered to engage in small talk with you. Even if the both of you go to the same university. It wasn’t until your second month as roommates, when you accidentally had too much to drink after a friends’ night out. You come home to see him in the living room, drinking grape juice from a wine glass, and watching a rerun of Hannah Montana. You practically collapse at the front door, he rushes to you and helps you up as you drunkenly confess to him in tears how you wanted to become much closer to him especially since the  two of you are going to spend the rest of your college years together. That was when Diluc realized how distant and aloof he’s been and vows to make it up to you.

– Diluc is very talented. Albeit in very discreet way, he makes sure to make use of his talents especially if it’s an opportunity to make memories with you. He is an amazing cook as much as he tries to deny it, He’s a secret virtuoso caught in 4k when you impulsively bought a guitar one time and you asked if he knows how to play, and he does so well. He practically serenades you in the most non-obvious way possible. Lastly, He’s very athletic. You invited him to play tennis one time, betting that if he won, you would do his bidding for the rest of the week. Before you could even blink, he wins. His “punishment” for you was that you accompany him in binge-watching TV Dramas. Grey’s Anatomy and Downtown Abby are just some of the shows the two of you would watch. It is absolutely adorable seeing him so invested in these dramas. and since the next on Diluc’s list were sit-coms, you were preparing yourself to answer his questions on the context of jokes that he didn’t get. In a poor attempt to flirt with you, he calls out your name and recites in the most Joey Tribbiani voice he could muster, “How you doin?” You were laughing so so hard that night because his pick up line actually worked on you and suddenly your realizations came full circle: you were very much in love with him too.

–  His naturally cool yet shy nature had always gotten the best of him.  He’s always wanted to ask if you wanted to carpool with him to school. Riding with him in his Tesla sportscar that goes 150 Mph? Heck yeah. However, it took quite a while before he could muster up the courage to ask you (4 months of being roommates until he finally popped the question) Since then, the two of you go home to and from University whenever you had similar schedules. Ever since then, Diluc had began to soften. His cold and hard facade slowly melted. Asking if you could help tie his floofy red hair then he’d let you play with it and let you style it in different ways. He takes you out on café dates during lunch breaks and take you out to watch a movie after both of your late night lectures. Everyone in campus thinks the two of you are practically together at this point. All that was left was to bare your feelings with one another through a fumbling and awkward confession.

“Words cannot not suffice these feelings I’ve been harboring for you since the very beginning. I L-like you a lot. Do you feel the same way too?”

KAEYA:

- Everyone loves Kaeya. Your friends and family, The School Faculty, The owner of the Convenience Store from down the street, The old lady who lives next door, The little kids from down the hall, and even the angry brown poodles from the farthest apartment to your right absolutely loved him. it was hard to keep up with having a roommate that not only were you crushing so hard on, but also had such a vibrant social life. Kaeya interacts and socializes with a lot of people and he admits that it does tend to get tiring at times. But, if these sacrifices lead to coming home to his cute roommate who has captivated his heart since Day 1, then it’s all worth it.

— Despite how warm and friendly he may seem, Kaeya is a very private person. He’s brought two or three friends like Jean, Lisa, Albedo, or Rosaria. But, only to discuss school affairs. He wasn’t the kind of person who trusts others easily, even if he was giving off the impression that he was a trustworthy and reliable person himself. He’d much rather spend time with you on days off from school. He may be a party guy on the outside (he insists he does it for future connections when he graduates) but he’s quite a homebody. Kaeya is the type to watch korean dramas and anime with you, go on late night convenience store cravings, and these always resulted in a perfect evening spent with him. When the both of you are fully immersed into the anime and things get a bit cozy, you rest your head on his shoulder, huddling for warmth.

— Kaeya would always come home with a little something for you. May it be take-out food, A trinket, a board game, an accessory, and even skincare products. The indigo-haired man is very particular about self-care and you bet that he’s bought different kinds of face masks, ointments, and even matching cute headbands just for the two of you! He’s very flamboyant and flirts with you a lot. Trying to impress you with pick up lines and suggestive jokes, but you always thought that he was just joking around because that was always a part of his personality. It was always a part of him. For Kaeya on the other hand, it seems to him that you don’t take him seriously and it's possible that you don’t return his feelings at all. He had to set things straight and it didn’t take long until Kaeya found the perfect opportunity to do so.

— With the help of practically everyone in the apartment, Kaeya is about to surprise you with a candle-lit dinner up on the apartment rooftop. His sly smooth-talking quickly convinced you that the both of you were just going to go out on your nightly convenience store trips. Your curiosity grows when he takes you by the hand, covering you with a blindfold, and whispering to your ear, “Do you trust me?” Gripping onto his hand tightly, the both of you go up some stairs and you reply, “Yes Kaeya, I do.” He slowly uncovers the shield from your eyes and your eyes sparkle at the sight of the candle-lit dinner, complete with jazz music, and a romantic view of the city.

“(Y/N)... You are the most precious person to me. I hope you can take me seriously, especially my feelings. I am saying this with my heart in my hand and with nothing but genuine love in my soul.”

ZHONGLI:

— Zhongli is truly husband material. You’re saying this as his friend, as his roommate, and as someone who’s absolutely smitten over him. He’s a third year environmental archaeology student at Teyvat University. Gentle, kind, and has nothing but wise and intelligent things to say. your lovestruck self can’t help but just admire him from afar, not knowing that he too has been entranced by you ever since you moved in.

—He's always the first to wake up in the morning. The first thing he does is make you a cup of coffee. He's got your favorite memorized, (Coffee with cream. Not to sweet and not too bitter.) The both of you own matching mugs, (written in colored scribbled letters, “The Wise Roommate” for Zhongli and “The Cute Roommate” for you.) He always wants to spend his free mornings with you. Both of you have different schedules so you never see each other at Campus and this was the only blissful time of the day you can spend with one another. Once you get home for dinner, (Zhongli is always the first to get home if he doesn’t stay too long at the library or strolling around the city) If it’s your turn to cook or if it’s his, he never forgets to brew you oolong tea after dinner. A perfect chance for the two of you to just talk the night away and engage in deep and meaningful conversations.

—Zhongli fell in love with you because you just quietly listen to him. Sometimes, you would share your thoughts and insights, even sharing your own personal knowledge that Zhongli had not known prior. You were one of the very few people in his life whom he could talk about absolutely anything with. Well, who wouldn’t listen to a handsome man who has a voice as smooth as butter? He is very passionate about his studies. Taking a lot of extra courses and spending a lot of money on his research. and so, most of the time, he spends all of his Mora on his extra studies (excluding the money he needs to pay for rent) and other interesting antiques. You understood why though. So, instead, you ask him to accompany you to do mundane chores. Going grocery shopping, doing the laundry and cleaning the apartment. He always helps in any way he can. The prying eyes of people around you and the old lady fr next door boldly coming up to you to ask if you and Zhongli were a married couple. You blush profusely whereas Zhongli coolly denies the woman's claims. It hurt quite a little but who were you to complain?

— It was during one of your night strolls with Zhongli. He had invited you out after dinner under the guise of wanting to have some fresh air and find a clear spot for the fireworks from a nearby festival. Your heart was thumping loudly to a non-existent rhythm, blissfully unaware that Zhongli was feeling a burst in his chest too. He clears his throat and his shoulders straighten. Zhongli puts his hand on your shoulder and breathes deeply. His cool and gentlemanly aura still radiating off of him as always. A wonderful array of colors fill the sky as his lips began to form the words he's always wanted to say:

"Tonight is beautiful isn't it? I thought that this would be the perfect time to open my heart up to you... You are a diamond in the rough that few see the beauty of. My beloved– Will you accept my feelings?

XIAO:

—  Having a popular twitch streamer as your roommate was a one in a million chance. Especially if you’re not even an influencer or internet figure yourself. But, how did this come to be? Why have you developed a crush on Xiao aka VigilantYaksha without knowing who he was? A gamer with over 6 million followers on different social media platforms? Simple, a high-end apartment near Teyvat University had a special discount if you were willing to be roommates with someone. It’s an amazing deal, near your school, cost-efficient, and you believed the 10% chance of scoring a hot roommate as seen on reality TV and romantic comedies. It was like rolling through a Gacha Game and getting a 5 star character. As that “character” is soon to be revealed as Xiao.

— Things started off rocky at first. On your first day, he flatly welcomed you by the door, introduced himself, then quickly retreated back to his room. As soon as you locked eyes with him, he gave off a certain cold and unfriendly aura. You wanted to get to know him better. Maybe with a little love and care, he could open up to you and you could become friends! That same day, you had mistakenly thought of your room as his and you walked in on him streaming a horror game. He wasn’t spooked by the jumpscares. But instead, he was looking at you in horror because you’ve just exposed yourself to thousands of people. You wave at the camera, apologize, and left. Since then, his fans, (called the Anemo Tofus) have been shipping the two of you together. Creating fanfiction and fanart of Xiao and the mysterious roommate that accidentally walked in on him. They practically begged Xiao to at least talk a little bit about you, to which, he declined. When you surprised him with dinner (as a little treat since this was your first week with him) He sits across the table from you, his eyes gazing deep into yours, as he pops the question, in a very tsundere tone: “Would you like to appear in my streams? T-the Anemo Tofus wanna learn more about you. B-but, if you don’t want to, it’s alright! You don’t have to-” You cut him off before he could continue his doubts, “Xiao! What are you saying? I’d love to!”

  —  There was something blossoming between the two of you after that particular dinner with him. Starting with your first “roommate video” that you had thought of when you were brainstorming for video ideas. It was an Almond and Mapo Tofu mukbang whilst the two of you answered questions from fans! The viewers noticed how visibly comfortable he was around you despite his usual reserved attitude. He was cracking up a lot more sarcastic and self-deprecating jokes whilst Tofu filled both of your mouths. Outside of the confines of social media and inside the comfortable space that was your apartment, you and Xiao grew closer. Wearing matching hoodies, going on midnight snack runs, playing in arcades, and stargazing with him up on the rooftop as you contemplate about life and talk about the mysteries of the universe. There were times when you would stay up late doing school works and would accidentally fall asleep on the sofa. Xiao would come out of room because he periodically had cases of insomnia. When he sees you on the sofa, he can’t help but smile at your sleeping figure and admire your beauty. First. he brings all your clutter back to your room then slowly picks you up from the couch, into his arms, and brings you back to your room. He places a blanket on top of you and your stuffed plushies next to you so you can hug them any time. 

— On a particular night, you fell asleep on the sofa once again and begun to  have recurring nightmares. Xiao was there to witness you whimpering, muttering to yourself, and shivering to a mental image that he could not see. (He wishes he could erase all the pain that these nightmares were giving you) You subconsciously grab onto his hand, murmuring to yourself: “Xiao, please don’t go.” He whispers back, “I won’t.” Your nerves slowly relax when you feel the Yaksha squeezing himself to lie next to you on the couch. Holding onto your arm, he continues to reassure you that it was going to be okay. You grab onto him, hugging him from behind. He feels your heartbeat revert back to it’s normal pace and you return back to your peaceful slumber. “I’ll always be here for you, (Y/N). I’ll be here to protect you. Forever and always.”  Turning to you to plant a kiss on your forehead, you nestle your head on Xiao’s chest. He watches as you cling to him for love and warmth until he is slowly whisked away by his weariness, rewarded with a peaceful sleep he hasn’t felt in a while.

“And they were roommates.”

[gemsofthegalaxy]

i feel like Rue kiiinnndaa was pissed off most of this episode but i also understand like,

this morning they wrote a letter, which contained a Declaration of Love for Hob, and gave it to their trusted friend Wuvvy to be delivered. they assumed that it was, in fact, delivered (it was not)

They also had a conversation where Wuvvy, one could argue, said her greatest happiness is serving them in the context of their job, and Rue had to break it to her that they are unsatisfied in their job and are considering leaving.

then, they were called into a meeting with higher ups in their Court, people they (presumably) have been trying to please for many years. They were condescended to, and there was a blatant attempt to bring them into the fold so they would stop causing trouble and making noise. They were asked to put on a mask and submit to their Court, days after finally revealing their true self.

they then realized they might not be able to trust the aforementioned best friend Wuvvy. they instead went to look for another friend, Binx, despite wanting to seek out the man they professed love to in their letter.

Binx was nowhere to be found.

they looked for another friend, Andhera. that friend was being accosted by some people who are probably friends (Chirp and Squak), but not so close yet. Finally, they saw Binx, but could not talk to them about what happened yet.

then. the man they love, Hob, strolled up to them, having been shot by someone with two arrows, and was entirely casual and funny about it- he also made no indication of reading the letter one way or another, which means he either didn't get/read it or he's ignoring it.

during a group discussion about where their loyalties lie, Hob looked at them and singled them out as the one that is not as trustworthy as the others, and implied they might still by loyal to the Court that just this morning tried to silence them.

Rue finally told them about the Chorus' offer, but it was not to be dwelled on.

They had another conversation with Hob, privately, about possibly changing courts, and they immediately disagreed on the use of courts (but, in my opinion, seem to be having slightly different conversations). Once again, there was no real indication Hob had read the letter, or he must have been ignoring it on purpose.

Later, they showed up to the theatre, discouraged, but looking beautiful. they immediately saw Hob on the arm of a woman, and sacrificed a bond within themself in order to overhear that Hob is marrying this person for the purposes of a political alliance.

Despite this, when they went to be alone and ended up talking to their trusted friend Binx, Binx them, assured them, that Hob loved them back.

Despite this, when they got another chance to talk to Hob, Hob accused them of breaking off an engagement of great importance to his court (which, in fairness, they did).

Then, they continued to fight about Courts and Alliances and the use for politics and Hob told them that, from his perspective, Rue was clearly trying to get his defenses down and/or pitied him, and nothing more. Rue could only respond by saying they were in love with him.

So. like. I get it?

rough fucking day.

[eclectickss]

Make Me Feel Special (1/2)

Pairing: Milf!Agatha Harkness x fem!reader

Warnings: Mommy issues/kink, sexual implications, major age gap (reader is of age)

Summary: You are angry at your best friend for turning down the opportunity for something that you would give your life for: a mother.

Word Count: 3K?

Link to Part 2

A/N: Not grammar checked at all! A blurb gone big!(still at writers block on PGATW) But requests are open! I’ve never done one before but i’m willing to try. <3

-

-

-

You entered the apartment and placed your keys in the dish and jacket on it’s hook, making your way into the kitchen to place your to-go food in the fridge. Jane sat at the island on the computer you shared, and you smiled.

“Hey, I picked up sandwiches for dinner. Hope that’s cool.”

“Yeah, sounds good.”

Your best friend didn’t look up, but it didn’t really bother you. Well, she was your only friend, but still.

You and Jane had been sharing the apartment for years now, The two of you working a good job to afford it and making a livable income. You had been close since high-school, due to your similar social status, but beyond the two of you, nobody was too good at making friends.

From what she had told you, Jane’s mom wasn’t around much when she was growing up. Jane was a teen pregnancy, and ever since she was born, her mom made no time for her daughter. Agatha, was her name.

Agatha came from a wealthy family, though. Her parents (Jane’s grandparents) wouldn’t allow her to use the family money for her child, much less anything else. She struggled with Jane, and therefore the two of them were ever close.

Agatha’s parents died when Jane was in high-school, so her mom inherited their wealth, but their relationship was past salvageable. At least in Jane’s eyes, it was.

Jane was always telling you about how bad of a mom Agatha was and about how you were lucky that you didn’t have to deal with someone like her. Jane didn’t understand though. You would had given anything to have someone like Agatha. Even if she wasn’t around to much, it was still better than nobody at all.

-

-

-

You were now setting the table for two as you pulled the sandwiches out of the fridge, also finding some strawberries to place at the table. You now were looking through the pantry for chips when you heard a knock at the door and Jane moving around to answer it.

“Mom?!” You heard at the door while you still had your head buried in the pantry. Your eyes widened at the name, never expecting to hear it in your life (in that context, at least). You thought Agatha was out of the picture. “What are you doing here?” You stayed silent as you listened from around the corner.

“Well, I think it’s long overdue that we had a talk, Jane, honey.” She sounded a little more raspy than you were expecting, but that doesn’t say much about someone who used to be an addict.

“We don’t do that, Mom. Anyways, now isn’t a good time.” You heard your friend sigh. The woman was your literal mother... you could at least give her five minutes, you thought.

“I want to start, honey. Please just let me in?”

“You have got to be kidding me.”

“C’mon, kiddo.” She begged, and you felt a little bad for how Jane was acting. You know her mom wasn’t a great person, but she was still her mom.

You never got to have one of those.

“If this is just you on another one of your sobriety stunts...”

“I’m really trying this time, Jane! I know I fucked up, baby, but please.”

“Fine.” Your friend grumbled. You heard increasing footsteps and your heart raced as you were about to meet the source of Jane’s complaints and drama.

You hurried to sit at the kitchen counter before the two women caught you snooping, but your gaze snaps up just in time to see Agatha Harkness walk into the room.

Jane might have always mentioned that her mother was any and all variations of a bitch, but she failed to mention how attractive the woman was. Her messy brown hair sat on top of an old purple cardigan and worn out jeans, followed by a pair of well-used slip-on shoes. The look together was not extremely flattering, but Agatha somehow pulled it together in a way that made your stomach turn. Your eyes raked her down, but you think she caught you when you met her gaze again. She smirked softly.

“Oh, I didn’t realize you had guests!” She says as her own eyes follow your figure, and you wonder if she’s just doing it to mock you or flatter you. She looks back up with a glimmer in her eye, and you decide on the latter option. Your face goes red, but you try and brush her actions off, not wanting to mistake it for anything else.

“Didn’t I say that this was a bad time?” Jane grumbled.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Harkness. My name is YN.” You smiled as you held out your hand.

“Call me Agatha, darling.” She stared into your eyes. “It’s so nice to finally meet one of Jane’s friends.” You panic under her gaze.

“We were just about to sit down for dinner, if you want to join us. We don’t have any food for you, but-“

“Oh, thank you... I was hoping I could talk to Jane in private, though.” She walked over to the table and took a seat.

“Whatever you have to say to me, you can say it to YN, too.” The two of you joined Agatha at the table.

A long moment of awkward silence passsed between the three of you before your guest finally spoke up.

“I want you in my life, Jane. For real this time.”

Nobody says anything, and dishes stop clattering.

“I know I shoulda done this earlier... hell, I shoulda done this when I got claim to my parent’s money, but I want to look after you. I never got the chance to do that when you were young... cause of all the drinking and working... but I can do that now. I’m ready.”

Jane sat with her mouth open and a half eaten sandwich forgotten on her plate.

“No, Mom, you shoulda done this from the moment I was conceived. You don’t get a second chance with me. I’m not giving you a second chance, or a third or a fourth or whatever number you wanna give yourself. You wanna know why? It’s because I already did that. And you let me down every single time.”

Agatha looked a little speechless.

“Fine, then.” She sighed. “I won’t bother you again.” But it hurt you to watch a daughter turn away her mother, when that was an opportunity that you wanted so badly. “Is it alright if I stay the night, though? It’s a long drive back to my place.”

Jane rolled her eyes, knowing that her mother was being dramatic, but didn’t want to put up with any more of her antics. “I better not see you in the morning. YN can get blankets for the couch.”

-

-

-

“Hey, Jane,” You sighed as you entered her room.

“Hey, YN. I’m sorry you had to deal with the shit show that is my mother. I can’t believe she just walked in here and expected me to accept her pathetic invitation.”

“No, it’s ok. She’s not that bad with me.”

“Well she just met you. I just don’t understand why she thought showing up unannounced would magically make me want a mother again. It’s fucked up.” Jane said, but you couldn’t sit there and watch her tear down something that you wish you had.

“Yeah,” you mumbled and rushed out of her room before she could say anything else.

You walked into the kitchen and grabbed a glass, then headed over to the sink for some tap water. The cool liquid rushed down your throat as you held down your tears, thankful that nobody was around.

“Hey, Honey,”

Shit. You forgot that Agatha was on the couch.

You turn around to see her meeting your gaze, although her eyes quickly found the way to the rest of your body.

“You doing alright, babygirl?” The nickname made you heat up. She spoke with concern and care; something that Jane chose to ignore, which made you feel bad for Agatha. You wish that Jane wouldn’t take for granted what her mother was trying to offer her.

“Uh... yeah... I guess.” You sigh, hopping up to sit on the counter as you watch the other woman fill her own glass at the sink. “Jane is just... being a little hard right now.” You chose your words carefully, not wanting to lose the trust of your friend but also wanting to gain the trust of another.

“What do you mean?” You realize the situation you have put yourself in.

“It’s just... I didn’t have a mom at all growing up. Or a dad. I had my shitty uncle... until he tossed me into the foster system. I had it real rough... and it still kinda is... but Jane has been helping. That’s why we’re friends at least. She might view me as a charity project, but i’m desperate, I guess.”

“What does all of this have to do with Jane being hard, hon?” She leaned onto the counter across from you.

“She didn’t really have a mom, either... growing up. No offense.”

Agatha shrugged. “I know.”

“But now that she’s given an opportunity to have one, she turns it down... and it makes me jealous. Mad. Angry.” You pause. “I know I’ll never get the chance at a mom, but she has one. And fuck, I would give so much to have that.”

“To have someone like me? A recovering drunk who treated their teen pregnancy like a joke?”Agatha sighed into her hands, but her words meant so much more to you than she may ever know.

“Yeah. To have someone like you. Someone who cares.” At that, she looked up with a new light in her eyes, but you don’t meet her gaze. You don’t want her to see the blush or desire written on your face, so instead, you pull a cigarette out from your jacket pocket.

She watches you as you hop down from the counter to get the lighter out of the junk drawer, paying attention to the way your body moves. You notice how her eyes follow you, but you don’t call her out on it, knowing you would do the same if the roles were reversed.

“You want a hit?” You lift your eyebrow as you raise the smoke to meet her gaze. A glint of humor is caught on her face, and you smirk.

“Sure... why not.” She says as you join her in leaning up against the counter. You bring the cigarette up to your mouth and click the lighter.

“So,” Agatha starts again, both of you a few puffs in. “How did you end up here with Jane?”

“Uhh... we met senior year of high-school. I was fucked up. Shit grades. Wasn’t going to graduate. Drug money to pay off... no job. Jane used your money to pay off my debt. She found me a job. Tutored me. Like I said, I felt like a charity project. But at least I graduated. We both work now and pay for this place together. Maybe it’s not great but we’re both better off than we were a few years ago.”

“Why didn’t she accept anything I tried to give her? Did she tell you?” Agatha was prying, but you didn’t mind.

“You mean after high-school? She didn’t want any help from you. In her words exactly... ‘She wasn’t there for me for the first 18 years of my life, so why should she help out now...’”

“And what do you think about that?”

“I didn’t grow up poor, Agatha. I grew up with nothing. I would have taken any of your offers in a heartbeat, no matter how guilty they made me feel.”

“Good girl.” She nearly whispers, and you turned to face her, but you couldn’t make anything out of the expression written on her face. Your own skin was hot and something was burning in your core, and you didn’t know what to think.

“I’m sorry... what did you just say?” You watched as she put the cigarette out, now giving you her undivided attention.

“So tell me, honey, do you have a boyfriend? I’m assuming a pretty thing like you would have one. Tell me about him.” Part of you wondered where this conversation was going, but the other part assumed that she already knew which direction you leaned in.

“Uhh... not my type.” You stared at her with curiosity.

“So you got a girlfriend, then?” Her new confidence shocked you a little bit.

“Uhh... no.” You tilted your head, and she seemed to pick up on your confusion.

“Good girl.” Your mouth was dry. “You see, mommy doesn’t want you having a girlfriend... no, she wants you all to herself.”

Your eyes widen in shock, but your core aches and cheeks burn. You stare at the woman next to you as a hand slides onto your thigh.

“Oh come on, darling. You said you wanted a mommy, baby. I wanna take care of you. I see the way you look at me. Don’t deny you want me too.” She spins around and pins you to the counter, and you audibly gulp.

“But- Jane.” You whine, already being driven crazy by the proximity of Agatha’s body.

“Jane is kicking me out, baby girl. And you can come live with me. Mommy has a pretty house, honey. I can feed you, clothe you... make you feel good. I can make you feel special.” And God, your soul was ready to leave your body. You wanted this. You could hardly think as her soft lips grazed over the skin on your neck, and a soft moan escaped your throat. Her tongue and teeth pulled at the skin just below your ear, trying to pull a response out of you.

“Mom!” The both of you jumped at the third voice in the room. The two of you turn to Jane in shock. “What the FUCK are you doing!” She rushed over to the two of you, pulling Agatha off of your body. “You can’t just come into my life and try to fuck my friends after someone rejects you!” She pushes her mom back and turns to you.

“Oh my god, YN, are you ok? I cannot believe that she tried to touch you. God, that makes me sick.” She hugged you, but you still couldn’t say anything.

“Jane, honey, you don’t know-“

“Shut up! I can’t even look at you! Get out of my house, mom. I never want to see you again.” Jane’s face turned red with anger.

“Honey-“ Agatha met eyes with you, but you didn’t know what to do.

“Leave! Now.” She seethed and stomped back to the bedroom, expecting Agatha to be gone when she got back.

The woman in front of you moved silently while you still processed what just happened. When she returned with her belongings, she gave you a note, but headed out without saying a word.

After a few minutes, you finally looked at the piece of paper in hand.

If you ever make up your mind...

1286 Lincoln St NW

(673) 867-5309

-Agatha

-

-

-

“YN, are you sure you’re alright? I really never would have expected my mom to touch you or even make you feel uncomfortable. I’m so sorry.” Jane sighed as she sat on the bed.

“I’m fine, J. You don’t have to apologize on her behalf.” You replied, sitting on the chair opposite her.

“I mean what even happened. Why did she do that?”

“Umm... I don’t know. We were just talking and then she started that.”

“What we’re you talking about?”

“Oh, I was just explaining how we met.” You tentatively answered.

“YN you didn’t have to tell her that. I know it’s personal for you, I can’t believe she forced you to talk about it.

“I uhh- actually didn’t mind. I wasn’t forced.”

“Then why would you trust her with something like that? You know how she is.”

“Because...” You thought about your next words carefully. “She cares.” Jane scoffs.

“That must be a different woman we’re talking about, YN. My mom is a selfish bitch who only cares for herself.”

That tipped the iceberg for you.

“You know, Jane? I understand that you and her might never be besties like she wants you to be, but that doesn’t mean you get to fuck her over now that she’s trying.” Your friend looks up at you in shock.

“Well she fucked me over my entire life, so I don’t see why I can’t do the same.”

“Because! Jane! She’s changed! It’s only right that you give her one more shot in your life!”

She took a pause.

“I’m sorry, YN, are you defending my MOM? After everything she’s done to me, and everything i’ve done for you?!”

“Yes. It is sick watching you throw something away that I can only dream of.” You spat angrily.

“Geez, YN. Just- get out of my fucking house. Keep your rent money for the month. Pack your shit and get the hell out of here.” She nearly ran out of the room.

But you weren’t surprised. In fact, you expected this the moment you chose your side.

-

-

-

The knocks resonate through the large door attached to the even larger house. Agatha has money.

You thought Jane was over exaggerating a little bit, but now you understood that she wasn’t. You sighed as your cab sped away, and now all you could do was wait.

Agatha opened the door, slightly shocked to see you, but nevertheless happy.

“Hey baby, what is it?”

You took a deep breath, taking in the sight of the woman who stood in front of you.

“I want you to make me feel special, mommy.”

-

-

-

link to part 2

[parkers-gal]

omg i love your styles!reader fics (and your writing in general, you’re so talented) !! can you do blurb where tom and styles!reader have been married for like a year or two and they tell their families that they’re expecting and then maybe flash forward to when the baby is born and harry cries meeting them?

combined requests: hi can u do a dad tom and reader. and they have a baby shower for the reader. I love all your story’s btw:)

wc: 2k

requests are open (love you // hope u like this)

—

“Are you excited?”

“I’m nervous.” You let out a measly laugh while Tom’s left hand moved from gripping your thigh to hovering above your lower abdomen.

You weren’t showing yet, of course. It had only been a few weeks since the two of you had found out. Two years into your marriage and the two of you had discussed to start trying for a family. You’d never told anyone that, so you expected the announcement to be quite a surprise for everyone.

Tom was a very private guy, especially growing up in the public eye. His family was off limits, and the minute you came into the picture, that trait only amplified. Now that you were married, he’d been a bit more private about his marriage life, especially around his family. It was a weird dynamic at first, because Tom is a very open man who loves his family very much.

But he also knows his family isn’t a private one when it comes to the media, and involving you would mean every aspect of your life would be outed. And he didn’t want that, so the two of you weren’t ridiculously close with either of your families.

It was a weird detail, really. One you didn’t really notice until a year after your marriage.

It was even weirder, however, that there happened to be an entire week where both your family and Tom’s family were available for a lunch date. Harry was usually writing an album or prepping for a tour, and you were glad he kept himself busy. Tom and his younger brother would usually be working on a project together, so having everyone home was exciting and nerve wracking.

“They’re all gonna know we’ve had sex.”

“I think they knew before,” He chuckled at your reaction, mouth ajar while you slapped his upper arm playfully.

“Who’s fault is that?”

“Sure, blame the guy who knocks you up.”

“Okay, mister.” You shuffle his curls, which are arranged messily for a Saturday.

Fifteen minutes later and the two of you are walking into the Holland household. You can already hear your brother’s minged shouts and hollers about whatever conversation he must be having with Harry, Tom’s brother. You’re quite certain you’ve never seen such a British interaction.

“The all-star couple is finally here!”

“Hey!” Harry drags out the end syllables while he brings you into a sloppy hug. “Baby sis.”

“Don’t ever call me that again,” You laugh at his tone, the words foriegn for him.

“Yeah, that was weird as fuck the minute I said it.”

You glanced over to Tom, who was hugging his brothers and his mother. You grinned as you made your way over to them, embracing them just as he had before linking your hand with Tom’s and sitting in a patio chair beside his.

“How is everything in your married-life?”

“Low-key, really.” You admitted, it was true. The first few months had been exhausting yet fulfilling, but now you felt yourself settling down for the long run. Tom could feel it too, especially with the unannounced baby Holland on the way.

“Yeah, mum,” He bit into a snickerdoodle. “Not much going on for us.”

“Didn’t you just wrap that upcoming film?”

“The London one, yeah.” He nods along and you get lost in conversation with Sam and Elysia. They’ve been together for quite awhile, and you suspect their own wedding might be within the near future.

You’re about an hour into the lunch when you make eye contact with Tom, communicating without words. He stands up, wiping his hands off on a napkin before pulling you up.

“We have… some new to share.”

Eyes glance up to the only two people standing at the table, and Harry (your brother) swallows a bite of bread before encouraging you. “Well, get on with it then.”

Your mom whips the back of his head, and you laugh. Gemma chuckles at them before glancing at you inquisitively. You’re very open with her, but from the look on your face, she knows this is something nobody else knows of.

“We are very happy to announce….” You start it, but urge Tom to finish what you cannot.

“That the newest member of the Holland-Styles clan will be coming by the end of this year.”

You watch as mouth’s drop open in the final realization at what this means. Gemma sits back in her chair, left hand above her chest, against her shirt with wide eyes and mouth ready to catch flies. You smile in excitement, and Nikki and your mom stand quickly for hugs, pushing their chairs back as they scrape against the concrete of the backyard patio.

Tom’s hand is linked to yours still, and when you momentarily let go, you feel almost abandoned and lost without him.

After a few rounds of accepting ‘congratulations!’you realize your brother has yet to move from his seat. When you glance at him after everyone’s settled back down, he’s looking in his lap. Gemma catches on, and so does Sam. Eventually, all eyes are on the Styles boy.

“Har?” You speak hesitantly in the tense situation. “You okay?”

When he picks his head up, he sniffles and you notice his red eyes. You jutt a lip out as you hear a few of the girls vocally “aw” at his state. He stands quickly, chair scraping just as everyone else’s had, and he makes his way over you.

You get lost in his embrace, hugging him tightly. He’s still crying slightly as he whispers a few words into your ears. He’s emotional upon realizing he’ll be an uncle in just a few months, emotional upon realizing you’ve grown up so much from the little girl that used to rub frosting on his nose and dimples.

You rub his back soothingly, and when you separate he gives you a weak smile. He maneuvers around you to hug your husband, who chuckles when he’s embraced roughly, tightly. Their hands are each on each other’s back, and a memory flashes in your mind, one of your wedding, when Harry cried so much you had to ask someone to buy more tissues.

You’re nostalgic about today’s encounter, and you don’t know what to expect when the baby really does come.

**

You’re seven months along, baby bump big as ever. Tom’s almost as protective as Tessa now that you’re so far along. As far as cliches go, you’ve just arrived to a basically surprise baby shower. You know it must’ve taken Tom weeks to plan something like this, and it must’ve been even harder to keep it a secret from you.

You kiss his forehead when you finally see why you’re at his mom’s house. Both yours and his moms are conversing in the corner after greeting the two of you. There’s a table of presents beside a snack area. You can see a few of your craving-snacks, and you hug Tom as best you can. He kisses your temple.

There’s not many people here, only your closest friend circle and your family members. You see Harry and Gemma in the corner, and make your way over to your siblings with a smile. You're swollen with the baby bump, so you’re not moving as fast, but you’re just as excited.

“Baby on the way,” You announce as you hug them. “Thanks for doing this, guys.” You blush as you gesture to everything around you. Harry shrugs with a cocky smile, and Gemma smiles lovingly. You see Sam and Elysia heading towards you, and Gemma makes her way to the snack table for some lemonade.

“Y/N!” Elysia drags out your name in excitement, hugging you carefully. “How is everything?”

“Ugh,” You groan jokingly, a hand rubbing up and down your bump. “Exhausting, really. She’s a handful.”

She smiles, and Sam’s hand stays on the small of her back as she leans into him. He excuses himself momentarily, and you lean in close to Elysia when he’s gone.

“Are you two engaged?”

She looks at you with a blush before shaking her head. “No… but I feel like he’s going to propose soon.”

You squeal and try your hardest not to cry. “Man, these hormones are crazy.” She laughs, nodding along. Unbeknownst to you, Sam had made his way over to the two older brothers of the Holland family. They’re sipping beer by the patio sliding door.

“Hey, guys.” The boys look up at the sound of Sam’s soft voice. He’s almost hushed, and they use context to realize he looks a bit serious.

“What’s up?” Harry’s hand pats his shoulder as if to comfort his anxious state.

Same turns his head to look at Elysia, who’s across the yard talking to you. “I think I’m going to propose soon.” Tom nearly chokes on his drink. “What? Man, that’s amazing!” He’s whispering out, breathing erratically from excitement.

Harry stares out, blinking in surprise. He’d seen in coming, but that would never amount to the realization that the Holland boys are growing up. “Do you have a ring or something?” They huddle close as Sam brings them closer in response to Harry’s question.

He pulls out a velvet box from an inner-jacket pocket. When he opens the case, they gasp in awe.

“Man,” Tom pats his back again, lovingly. “I’m happy for you.”

“Thank you, man. I’m nervous.” He wipes his hands on his thighs as he hides the ring in his clothes again.

“Don’t worry.” Harry glances over at the two of you. “She loves you so much. You’re gonna get the happy ending.”

They continue talking until your mum, Anne, announces it’s time to open a few presents. You reunite with Tom for the first time since arriving, trying not to come off as too flustered, but you know you are. You know you’ll cry — and dramatically too, because your hormones are off the radar — if anyone gives you a really meaningful present.

You open a few, some just basic cleaning supplies for diaper-care, others range from cute clothes to bedding sheets. When you open Harry’s gift, it’s a CD case with a picture of the Styles family on the cover.

When you open the case, you see a message in print. He’d written you a few songs, for Tom and the baby too. You nearly burst into tears as you stand up as quickly as possible. Tom helps you stand while you make your way over to your older brother, hugging him as if your life depends on it.

“You’re gonna be a great uncle, Harry.”

***

When they said the birth process was painful, they didn’t mention how much. Tom fainted about an hour and a half into it, after glancing where he shouldn’t have. You laughed while the doctors got him standing again. He was by your side for the entire time, and when you finally gave your last push, the two of you heard the wales of your sweet baby girl.

“Did so well, love.” You’d heard him whisper while he kissed your sweaty forehead.

Seven hours later, you were sitting up after having just slept for a good amount of time. Scarlet was sleeping calmly in your arms. Tom was squeezed onto the bed next to you, arms carefully wrapped around your exhausted body. He’d cried four times already.

“Ma’am, your families are here.” A nurse had come into the room with a small smile before opening the door wider to allow visitors in.

Harry and Gemma were first up. They’d been here the longest, having received a call when they were closer to the hospital than everyone else.

You glanced up when you heard Harry gasp. “She’s beautiful.” He whispered, tip toeing over to the bed, seating himself in one of the chairs.

“C- can I hold her?” You nod, handing him the small child. He graciously takes her in his tattoo covered arms, holding her head cautiously while he coos at her. She wakes momentarily to giggle at the new arms. He visibly pouts, and when you notice water on Scarlet, you grow worried.

But all of that is washed down the drain when you see Harry’s red, teary eyes. He smiles happily, even through the tears, and you breathe out a laugh through your own cries.

“She looks just like you.”

You wipe a tear away, reaching out to hold one of his hands.

“Just like you.”

[mythiccheroacademia]

A Dip in the Hot Tub

A/N: Sooooo, I wasn’t originally going to participate in kinktober in any way, but so many blogs inspired me to do something. Even if it’s one thing. So here I am sinning™️.  I wanna start writing for haikyuu, so this is my experimental fic. I wrote it with my two favs so I hope got the characters somewhat right. I hope y’all enjoy this and happy kinktober <3

Pairing: Bokuto x Fem!Reader x Kuroo Word Count: 2k Context: You’re a volleyball player (you choose the school) that caught the eye of the Fukurōdani and Nekoma volleyball team’s captains. They’ve expressed their interest, but you don’t believe it. Now they’ve cornered you and won’t leave until they’ve convinced you of their feelings in a way you can’t deny. 

All characters are 18+

Warnings: sexual content aka dry humping, fingering, threesomes without p*nis to v*gina penetration...but it is later implied, cursing

A Dip in the Hot Tub

The private hot tub was supposed to be relaxing treat. And it was. At first.

That was until you realized you were in the water with two insanely aggravated (read: jealous) men who had recently expressed their attraction to you. And your dumb ass only believed them after seeing their reaction when they caught Oikawa flirting with you.

You admittedly had an ego boost under the power you felt in that moment. Now, with Bokuto and Kuroo sitting across from you, displeasure in their gazes, you were filled with anxiety.

Or was that excitement?

You decided to stay on your side, legs tightly bound together.

“Uhh, so the first day of camp went well,” you said, attempting to make conversation.

“Yeah.”

“Sure.”

Wow. Okay.

“Tough crowd,” you muttered. You tried again. “Um, have any plans for the rest of the evening?”

“Not really.”

Then, it was crickets.

You nodded, giving up. You can take a hint.

“Okay, well, obviously I’m not wanted here so I’ll just take my leave—”

“No, wait.” You felt your body tense as Kuroo put his hand on your shoulder. His brown eyes were rigid, but not with anger. It was something more vulnerable. However, he looked away before you could decipher it.

“Kuroo…” you whispered.

“Stay. We didn’t mean to make you feel unwelcomed,” he said.

You stared at him for a second before looking over to Bokuto who still looked…emo…but didn’t seem to make any protest. Despite your apprehension, you let the dark-haired man slowly pull you back down into the water.

“Okay,” you breathed.

You hadn’t realized just how hurt they’d be. Your own insecurities made you believe there was no possible way both of your crushes were interested in you. However, that didn’t give you a right to mess with their feelings like you did. You were grown enough to know better.

Sucking in your pride, you apologized.

“Hey. Tetsu, Tarō. I’m sorry,” you quietly spoke. You looked down at your hands in embarrassment. “I was wrong to not take your feelings seriously. I just…I just couldn’t believe that you two liked someone like me more than a friend. Especially when I um like you two aswell. So, I’m sorry if that really turned you off. I wouldn’t blame you.”

What was said next totally caught you off guard.

“You really don’t understand how much we want you, do you?”

Your eyes snapped up to see a pair of golden irises closing in on you. You couldn’t get the chance to wonder how Bokuto got so close to you because the intensity of his gaze made you blank out.

“Huh?” you dumbly said.

His hands readily found your waist before running down your hips, fingering the laces of your bottoms before finding purchase on your thighs. “Even though I’m incredibly pissed off at you, all I can think about is how much I wanna fuck you right now.”

The way his eyes rolled down your body made goosebumps flood your skin and your pussy clench with desire. Bokuto pushed himself closer to you and you gasped at the feeling of his erection on your abdomen.

You couldn’t even comment before Kuroo came up behind you, placing wet kisses on the back of your neck. You felt his clear excitement on your back.

“I guess we’re just going to have to show you how much we like you, huh princess?” he said with a Cheshire-like smile.

You were easily feeling overwhelmed with four hands and two mouths feeling you up. You wanted it, but you couldn’t help but feel a little nervous. You’d never taken two men at the same time.

“W-wait—I’ve never…I haven’t—”

“Don’t worry. We won’t go all the way. We’ve got you babygirl,” Kuroo whispered before nipping your shoulder.

Your words turned into putty as you finally welcomed Bokuto’s lips. Despite his past seriousness, he was soft and hesitant with his kisses until he felt your arms wrap around his neck. Then his confidence shined through. You were pushed further into Kuroo’s embrace as you deepened the kiss.

You felt yourself moan as his tongue passed through your mouth, leaving no crevice unexplored. He kissed you like he couldn’t have enough of your taste, swallowing down every whimper you gave. It was almost instinct for you to wrap your legs around him and you reveled in how he grinded his hips against you. You were breathless as he positioned himself so that he was right on your clit.

“Oh, Bokuto…”

“This is how you make me feel, Y/N,” he panted. “You don’t know how many times I’ve dreamt about your legs around me.”

Bokuto’s hips continued to buck into you and it felt amazing. He was slow in his movements, his hips like sensual waves as he rutted against your sensitive nub. You moaned, hands latching onto whatever you could hold of his muscular back.

“You like that? Does it feel good, baby?” he exhaled. “Does it feel good when I pretend like I’m fucking you?”

You whined out a yes and dug your fingers in his hair. But just when you thought this was it, a pair of hands from behind untied your bikini top, letting it fall down your shoulders. Kuroo smoothed one of his hands over your breasts, teasing your nipples with his thumb and forefingers. The other hand squeezed your ass before his thick finger past your bottoms and into your slick folds.

The feeling of his fingers curling against your walls and Bokuto’s dick against your clit made your head fall back. Kuroo bit down on your neck and licked the mark before whispering in your ear, “All we’ve ever wanted was to make you feel good, kitten. There were so many nights I touched myself thinking of how you’d feel wrapped around me. So many nights I wished it were your pretty little mouth choking on my dick.”

He found satisfaction in how his words alone had such an effect on you when he felt you shiver. Meanwhile, you were on cloud nine. You closed your eyes and let a desperate whine drip from your lips as you felt Kuroo start to thrust against your ass. He then took his fingers out from your heat and lied them flat against your tongue.

“Suck,” he ordered, and you did just that, tasting yourself. A delicious moan vibrated through your body as he slowly moved his fingers in and out of your mouth.

It took a few moments, but soon, the three of you were moving in sync, chasing the orgasm you felt within their bellies. The closeness of it all was nearly overwhelming. Their grunts and moans were hot in your ears; one hand was in Kuroo’s hair while the other gripped Bokuto’s back.

“Imagine that we’re in you, filling your pretty holes up. So stuffed that you can barely tell who is who and god—you’d feel so good. Taking us like the good girl you are. So wet and hot for us as we fuck you until you can’t remember your own name,” Bokuto groaned.

Your eyes nearly rolled into the back of your head. You were trying your best to keep your voice down, but the two men against you were not on the same wave. The white and black haired man gripped the flesh of your thighs to pull you closer as his thrusts got faster and messier.

Bokuto buried his head into your neck and moaned, “Y-Y/N, baby, I’m close.”

Close? You were barely holding on. If it wasn’t for that fact that Kuroo twisted your head to swallow your moans away, you would’ve been heard through the walls of the private room.  

In your pleasure filled daze, you found it within yourself to slip your hand within his trunks and pump his dick. The extra heat from your hand and the way you stroked your thumb over the tip nearly pushed him over the edge. Kuroo let out the prettiest moan that made his face heat up. Gone was the smugness as he peered at you with desperation.

“Princess—fuck Y/N!”

You huffed out a chuckle.

Kuroo took his hand out of your mouth so he could wrap one arm around your waist and pinch your nipples. He began to urgently thrust in your hand as you pulled Bokuto’s hair back so you could also see his face.

You almost came on the spot as he gazed at you like a lovesick puppy, golden eyes begging for release.

Within both of their gazes, you could see the fondness they had been trying to express to you. That along with the overstimulation was enough to make your eyes prick with tears.

The feeling was all too much. Your stomach was coiled tight. One more thrust and you were nearly sent over the edge.

“Kuroo! Boku—ah! Oh shit!” you sung.

“Come on, sweetheart,” Bokuto growled. “You’re right there—ah! C-cum for us.”

He grabbed the ledge of tub and nearly slammed into you as Kuroo licked his lips at the sight of your open mouth gasps. The water sloshed back and forth, spilling over the edges with your movements. You looked so pretty with your tongue out and eyes fluttering between open and closed.

Kuroo’s hand wrapped around your neck and gave it a slight squeeze. “Let us hear you princess—“

Then it hit you. Your eyes blacked out from the intensity. “I’m cumming!” you screamed. A wave of pleasure shot up your belly and spread warmth hotter than the humid air throughout your shaking limbs.

It was weird how their bodies automatically followed yours. Your voices tangled in the air for a few seconds before all that was left were the sounds of your heavy breaths.

The two men slumped over, each taking a different shoulder to rest on. You leaned your head back and closed your eyes to steady yourself from that mind blowing orgasm.

There was a moment of peace as you three simmered in the afterglow. Then Bokuto broke the silence.

“Now do you believe us?” he asked.

He lifted his head and you saw that confidence of his shine behind rosy, cheeks. And although he was flushed from what occurred moments ago, his blush was more attributed to the rush of getting to be so intimate with you.

“Believe you about what?” you panted with a lazy grin.

“That we’re yours, duh,” he goofily smiled.

Kuroo kissed your cheek. “That is…if you’ll have us,” he softly spoke.

You couldn’t help but laugh at the incredulousness of the situation.

Both of them, huh?

You sighed. There was no use in denying their feelings anymore.

“You two always had a weird habit of sharing anyways,” you conceded.

“Hey! Hey! Hey! I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist our charm!” Bokuto cheered. “Now let’s head to my room do the real thing!”

You choked on your spit. “W-what!? The real thing? Aren’t you two tired!?”

“Tired?” Kuroo chuckled. “You got caught up with two A-List volleyball players and you think we’re tired after this? You’re funny.”

You squealed in surprised as Bokuto suddenly lifted you out of the tub, bridal style. They began to cheerfully walk out the room ignoring the fact that you were completely topless. You scrambled to cover your chest and cursed the two out for laughing as if someone wouldn’t see you half naked as soon you walked out of the door.

“Kuroo! Bokuto! If you dickheads don’t get my fucking bikini top—”

“Yeah yeah. You’ll be fine. You won’t need it anyways~” Bokuto chirped.

Kuroo nodded. “What are the chances that anyone will see us?”

“Uhh a lot!?”

“Welp! I guess we’ll find out!”

Just what the hell did you get yourself into?

[ctl-yuejie]

How the diverse world of the addictive tv series “Cherry magic” got made

(interview with scriptwriter Yoshida Erika by Yokogawa Yoshiaki)

沼堕ち続出ドラマ“チェリまほ”の多様な世界はどうやって作られたのか【脚本家・吉田 恵里香さん】2020.12.22  横川 良明

for @howdydowdy because we were talking about what a fantastic character Fujisaki is and the notion of consent when it comes to reading someone’s mind

Currently, societal values continue to change rapidly. On one hand the movement of respecting each other’s diverse individualities and making it easier for each and every one to live in society has become more active, one the other hand it is not a rare occasion to be lost for words when suddenly unconscious discriminatory biases – derived from not being able to cut loose old values that are rooted deep in oneself – raise their heads.

How should we exist within this period of polarization? This series is to create the opportunity to think about this topic by having discussions with the toprunners in the entertainment world. The person I am introducing for the first edition is screenwriter Yoshida Erika.

She is behind the script of “Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?!”, the tv series that has grabbed the first spot on the oricon satisfaction ranking for 4 weeks in a row, and has gained fast popularity despite its late-night spot. The enthusiasm for the show can be attributed to the soft view Ms. Yoshida has on the world.

Yokogawa Yoshiaki (YY): I am happily watching the series. I really liked the original work, however the way it was adapted to a television format has been brilliant. One big thing is the making of the character of Kurosawa played by Machida Keita. By Adachi’s magic (played by Akasouji Eiji), the voice of Kurosawa’s heart spills out, and while the original text had him be quite blatant in his expressions overall, the drama carefully examines them.

Yoshida Erika (YE): That is definitely where there is a difference in depth. The original has the premise of a work in the BL genre, readers are expecting a BL-like development, so they can take such things in stride, but the viewership of the tv series is more varied. Under them there might be people who do not like BL. That is why I was conscious about how different people from different backgrounds might watch this show.

It is not okay to assault someone just because you were invited to their house, kissing or touching without consent is not okay and being of the same or different sex makes no difference in this. Treating such things as okay because it is BL would be rude to the parties concerned. Because we are using the BL genre, we want to specifically protect the “firsts” of the parties concerned. That is something the producer Ms. Honma Kanami and the director agreed about and I therefore paid extra attention to.

YY: Adachi himself, as he is about to step into Kurosawa’s house thinks “Not that I might possibly get assaulted?!”, and is very vigilant, but with some soul-searching realizes that that is rude towards Kurosawa. To say it briefly, you can feel the probity of the creators.

YE: I thought that a main character that thinks that he will get assaulted when he steps into the house of someone will not be loveable. No matter how well received the person is who acts it out, if we cannot love them on a human level, this drama will not work. Adachi’s power to read people’s hearts is also the action of seeing people’s darker sides on his own volition. That’s why a character we cannot love as a person will receive push-back by the viewers.

YY: Just like you said, the act of reading peoples’ hearts includes great violence. That is why I think that when he realizes that Kurosawa has fond feelings for him, unlike the original where he reads Kurosawa’s heart on purpose, the drama treats it as an accidental force. Over the whole series, it is of focal importance that Adachi doesn’t overuse his magic.

YE: That is where we were extremely careful. In the manga easy comprehensiveness is important and that type of suspense is interesting - and we don’t intend to deny that - but if you do it as a drama, I didn’t want to make him into a young man using his powers at ease. That is why, especially in the first half, he decides and tries very hard not to use his powers when possible. The scene where he reads the CEO’s heart appears in the first issue of the original, but in the drama we pushed it back to the 5th episode. We made it a point to illustrate how Adachi is filled with the emotion to help Kurosawa and that is why he uses his powers.

                                                       -

That what I don’t want others to do unto me, I do not want to inflict on characters.

                                                       -

YY: His colleague Fujisaki (Satou Ryo) is a Fujoshi in the original and that premise was cut from the series. If you decided to have a Fujoshi character on a prime time show, did you think that misunderstandings might arise easily?

YE: That was definitely a thought. In BL as a genre it is not an issue that a character exists that takes the same viewpoint as the reader, and I love Fujisaki in the original, but the people who are acting it out in reality are real people. At that point, loudly fawning about someone else’s’ love life is not perceived as good conduct. At the least, I thought that I wouldn’t want to be treated like that.

YY: It is fine to envision fictional characters as romantic partners, but it is different when you make a real acquaintance the target of that.

YE:

A thought we had was that if Adachi and Kurosawa were to really date it would be one thing, but grinning at someone - who might even be heterosexual – because you inflate your own BL adjacent delusion isn’t much different from a man grinning at a woman with big breasts and calling her sexy. I wouldn’t want to get treated that way, so I didn’t want to inflict that on the characters in the story as well.

When it comes to Fujisaki it isn’t like she isn’t a Fujoshi. We do not clearly state it, but I thought there was no reason to show it in the drama. 

YY: You are saying, that it is fine that people might interpret Fujisaki as a Fujoshi when she is smiling at Adachi and Kurosawa.

YE: Yes. That is where you are free to imagine (laughs).

YY: What I thought was very fresh is that instead of proclaiming her to be a Fujoshi, Fujisaki is turned into someone who “is happily living her daily life even without romantic love”. We don’t often get characters like that in Japanese tv series.

Personally, I also like romantic tv series, but while feeling venerated when the main characters have realized their love in the final episode, when trying to build a romantic connection to someone else in real life it might not go well and beyond that, it is not that it never happens that I, who also holds interests in other things than romance, end up feeling empty because of the lonely feeling of having been left behind (when watching a romance on tv unfold).

But with having Fujisaki appear, it felt like I got rescued.

YE: Until now, for several projects I made the suggestion of a character that is not interested in romance, but I wasn’t understood. “Is it necessary to do that?” “Aren’t you overthinking it?” were things I got told often.

But with this production, when I said that I wanted Fujisaki to be asexual or aromantic, no one denied me. From that stage on I thought that this place was a good one, and thanks to the original writer giving her agreement it got turned into reality.

YY: Since this kind of character hasn’t really appeared in a tv series, it felt like people like Fujisaki were assigned to be non-existent in this world. But thanks to you envisioning her like this, seen from a person that like Fujisaki might say “I got used to acting “normal”” and feel a notion of despair when confronted with people not understanding them, it felt like it got emphasized that people like her also exist in our society. Picking such little voices feels like it is one of the purposes of entertainment.

YE: If that could become the case I would be glad about it. 10 to 20 years prior, a “fairytale gay” (describing the flamboyant gay friend, that mentally supports the heroine by giving some harsh but accurate advice) often appeared in tv series from abroad, but this portrayal slowly changed, finally it has reached the point where the view point that being gay isn’t something special has penetrated the public.

So this time, I believe that one of my duties was to tell the story of people that are not interested in romance or people who do not only love one person, not from a standpoint that is convenient for consumption, but to have properly realized characters up to their individual backgrounds.

                                                     -

I hope the time comes where it isn’t necessary to especially say “This is a BL series”

                                                      -

YY: Please let me speak on something that has confused me this far. Prior, when you explained Fujisaki in context of the script, it felt like it wasn’t okay to call her asexual or aromantic because she herself doesn’t use any of those labels. I was somewhat afraid that an outsider would just selfishly declare that “you are asexual, aren’t you!?” in regards to someone who hasn’t professed anything.

YE: There is the point of both of the terms asexual and aromantic not being widely known in Japan as much as compared to overseas and I also think there are people who just wouldn’t use these words. Even when you think you are not interested in romance at the moment, it could also be that you just haven’t found the person that makes you feel that way. That’s why I can understand how labelling someone has a violent notion.

YY: My next question is also relating to that: This applies to Cherry Maho, but generally when I write about over works that feature a lovestory between men I try not to use the word BL.

This is my own opinion but to me it feels like the term BL has too much of a sexual image.

In private I casually use the word BL. However, for the content of an article that is read by an unspecified number of people, I remember stumbling over labelling something as BL. Using BL as an easy genre specifier has the effect that there will be a layer that won’t get looked at. I simply want to have more people enjoy a piece of work. I don’t object to the editor using BL in the title but in the content I write, I try not to use the term BL story but simply “love story between two men” and keep it close to how you’d address it in reality.

YE: I understand that. Obviously, I don’t intend to shame the taste of people that like BL. However, I understand that there are people that feel a sense of resistance towards BL as a genre. That is why I also don’t use the word BL when I promote on twitter. I do think that it would be great to have a new word.

Just like women have things they don’t want to be subjected to, men also have things they don’t want to be subjected to. This kind of awareness has become more broadly spread bit by bit. However, in order to have it really penetrate society it needs for the voices of the affected people to be heard. But it is also the reality of today’s society that violence is directed at people that raise their voice. That is why I feel like it is the job of the people that create tv shows to speak up instead.

At the least, that is how I want to straightforwardly create the world, so that in 10 years without directly stating “this is a BL series” we have a society that takes it in as a “new cool romantic drama beginning” with “the leads being actor x and actor z” and as nothing unusual.  Now we really have such a transitional period, and as a writer I want to build the steps towards it.  

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original article: https://mi-mollet.com/articles/-/27045?page=3&per_page=1