#also not right away bc I got a cool comm to work on first

[replicastarglobe]

THIS OC REFERENCE HAS HAIR COLOR EYE COLOR AND SKIN TONE????

[daisybeewrites]

Academy Blues

oh, deer

word count: 2.8k

warnings: none for this chapter, vague foreshadowing

ship: dousy (daisy johnson x daniel sousa), background Fitzsimmons and Philinda

heyyyyy…. yes i posted it early on Ao3

howeverrr you guys are gonna like this chapter. i just feel it in my bones (bc its fluffy and the angst starts kicking in in the next one)

“You look like Rudolph, Daisy,” Elena greeted.

Daisy took a large swig of coffee, rolling her eyes but smirking. The pair were walking together to Elena’s first class after a tough early-morning spar.

“You’re the one who punched me where I already had a bruise,” Daisy shot back.

“Hey, I already told you I was aiming for the jaw. It’s not my fault you didn’t duck quick enough.”

They laughed as Elena swiped her key card to the comms building. Daisy held the door for Elena, shoving her lightly in the back as she passed.

“Hey!”

“Not my fault you can’t see backwards,” Daisy teased.

It was Elena’s turn to roll her eyes and laugh, slowing to a stop outside May’s lecture room.

“Right. Wish me luck, I heard May was giving a pop quiz today,” Elena grimaced.

“You don’t need any luck. I’ll see ya, Elena,” Daisy replied.

“Yeah, you will!” Elena said, backing into May’s large lecture room.

Daisy watched her wave and sit down with a group of third-years, her perfect french braids swishing behind her, before turning around. Daisy didn’t have a moment to think about where she was going before she ran into a solid wall.

Daisy looked up into a pair of dark chocolate eyes, crinkled at the edges with a small smile. The wall’s hair was ruffled, as if he had just gotten out of bed. He wore black SHIELD sweats and a white t-shirt. The wall was very attractive. She vaguely registered the smattering of books on the ground, her mind more focused on his hands on her shoulders.

“Daisy, are you okay?”

She must have been staring for too long. “Yeah, I’m good! Great! Sorry, Sousa,” she apologized, quickly bending over to pick up his books. She almost dropped them again when his hand brushed hers while she handed the thick textbooks back. She gave him a quick smile, taking a deep breath to compose herself, reciting her affirmations. I am Daisy Johnson. I am an Agent of SHIELD. I can move the Earth. I am powerful. I am in control of myself.

Daniel’s smile grew a bit when he heard Daisy laughing quietly to herself.

“I guess you could say I really swept you off your feet.”

Daniel chuckled at the quip, his hands still on her shoulders. “Yeah. Foot,” Daniel corrected. Daisy furrowed her brows, but ignored the strange comment.

“Right. Well, the bell—” Daisy was cut off by a long, high-pitched bell. She closed her eyes tight, the blaring alarm causing tiny vibrations to travel through her skull. When she opened them, Daniel was still standing in front of her, white tee and black sweats and messy morning hair encouraging just a bit more flirting before he had to leave.

“Wow, look at you. Late! I’m a bad influence on you, Danny.”

Daniel shrugged, glancing at his watch. “S’not the first time,” he murmured lowly, stepping away and giving her a last look before he disappeared into the classroom.

Daisy pretended not to notice her heart rate had risen from it’s usual sixty beats-per-minute to seventy-six beats-per-minute.

Daisy spent the rest of the day absentmindedly completing work in her classes. For some reason, flirting with Daniel felt… different than it had with her exes. Even her exes in SHIELD. Daniel was grounded. He had a calm presence. Being late didn’t phase him in the slightest; Daisy would have internally berated herself for the rest of the day.

She was finishing a short answer assignment from International Law and SHIELD Policy while stretching on the outdoor training grounds when she saw him again: still in sweats despite the heat. He was still walking with same, familiar limp. Then it clicked—’Foot’; the throwaway comment from earlier made much more sense now. He had a prosthetic. Before she could think anymore about that revelation, May called the Ops trainees to gather around her under a giant maple tree. Daisy was the last to get up, hanging towards the back as usual.

“Ops training, eh?”

Sousa turned to Daisy standing beside him, breaking his focus on May to turn to her. “Yeah. I used to be military, remember? 28th Infantry Recon Scout. I figure I’ve got to get at least near the level I used to be before I can go in the field.”

Daisy nodded, her hair caught in a slight breeze. “As long as you don’t steal my crown as the Queen of Spar, Master of Field Ops Physical Training.”

Daniel chuckled quietly, turning his attention back to May, who was explaining today’s exercises.

“Partners,” Daisy breathed. Daisy hated partners, unless it was May. She’d rather condition. It wasn’t that she didn’t like the other trainees, they were great people! But her nerves got the better of her and she ended up holding back, not helping herself or her partner. She knew how to control her powers, how to keep herself from using them while sparring. Whispers of doubt and guilt still invaded, fogging her mind like deadly mist.

You could kill them. It’s happened before…

She was taken back to the moment by Daniel tapping her shoulder. “Partners?”

Daisy reluctantly nodded and motioned to him to follow her over to a thick pad of grass next to a small willow tree.

“So, what exactly are we supposed to be doing? It’s Tuesday, which is usually a mix of breathing and nerve control and focusing on technique, rather than strength.”

Daniel glanced over at the other partners, who were all going through defensive and offensive stances slowly, like tai chi, he thought.

Daisy walked closer to where he had stopped beside the willow, pointing out a pair of partners moving almost in sync.

“They’re focusing on how their breathing can help their fighting. Mentally and physically. If you’re nervous, your heart rate spikes, your brain goes fuzzy and then your body gets sloppy. If you aren’t breathing, your heart rate spikes, your brain goes fuzzy and your body gets sloppy. Breath can make a punch more powerful and a kick more accurate, if you know how to use it. I’ll show you the moves.”

Defensive, offensive, block, strike, block, kick. Daisy continued in a cycle until Sousa could mirror her movements with little effort.

Daisy stopped him then. “Great! You’re a quick learner,” She winked, smiling wide.

Daniel smiled back, “So how do I do the breathing thing?”

Daisy pondered how to explain it for a second. “You have to flow, like water. You control your breathing, you have the power. But at the same time, you have to let the air flow naturally. The moves will align with your breath, don’t force it.”

Daniel nodded, and they were off. It took a minute to get into the groove, but once he did, it felt effortless. Every kick, block, inhale and turn, exhale and strike came naturally. It gave him the opportunity to study Daisy.

Usually, especially in the early mornings in the computer lab, Daisy looked tired. Her brows were drawn slightly, fingers fidgeting, knee bouncing. In the halls she walked briskly and adjusted her bag or checked her watch often, a small tic she didn’t seem to notice. Right now, though, breeze across her olive skin, Daisy looked cool as water.

She felt the earth beneath her. The trees and grass and flowers in the wind. She tuned in to the radio of her surroundings, letting her muscle memory guide her. The forest was really loud. The concrete buildings had a sort of buzz, too. They mixed in her bones like the sounds of a great symphony, low rumbles and high-pitched chittering and long, constant notes that provided a harmony to the undulating melody. The frequencies of each living and non-living thing in the area seemed to be flowing around her, steady.

Daniel softly stared at her as she moved through the flow with him. She was very good at this. He was having a bit of trouble, though he doubted he would be having this much trouble if it wasn't Daisy right in front of him. For an exercise designed to relax them, wasn’t it counterintuitive to partner with the girl that made his heart skip a beat when she smiled?

When May clapped her hands and signaled the end of the session, the tired, sweaty kids gathered around May’s oak tree. The sun was beginning to dip towards the horizon, bringing a glow to each of their faces. Daisy looked radiant.

“Class is dismissed. Tomorrow, we’re conditioning,” May warned. In a quieter voice, May called, “Daisy, can you hang for a second?”

Daisy stepped away from her bag and towards May. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes, everything’s fine. I have a question for you. Would you mind giving up your free period three times a week?”

Daisy’s eyebrows raised, no classes that she knew of only took place three times a week. “I want to say yes, but I’d also like to know why?”

“Fair. Top brass called. If you want to be a field agent with powers, you’ve got to practice fighting with them, get comfortable with them. I know everything that happened with Lincoln…” May paused, gauging Daisy’s reaction. When there wasn’t any, May continued. “Your powers didn’t make you an agent, I did.”

May paused, giving Daisy a chance to settle her thoughts before adding, “But I think this is important.”

Daisy slowly nodded. If this was important to May, then Daisy had no problems giving up her free period.

“Who will I train with?” she asked.

May smiled. “Meet Yo-Yo and I behind the garage at seven sharp tomorrow morning.΅

Daisy saluted playfully, wandering to her bag and walking in the direction the other students had gone. She could see them filtering into the cafeteria. A smoothie sounded nice…

The canteen was full of students grabbing plates of chicken and veggie tacos. Daisy was always happy during dinner on taco Tuesday. She grabbed her plate and a small green juice and searched for a familiar pair of heads, warm brown eyes and freckles sitting next to dirty blonde curls.

As she approached, two hands went up, waving. Weaving her way through students, she saw Fitz pat the seat beside him.

“Oi, Dais! I've got something to show you!”

Daisy sat down, her attention drawn to the tiny device on the table in front of her. It was small enough to fit in her hand, but surprisingly heavy for its size. Multiple coloured wires stuck out from various surfaces. Fitz was grinning at her with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. He pressed a button on a small remote that sat on the table. Daisy looked over at Jemma, puzzled. Was something supposed to be happening?

Daisy glanced down at her hand. There was nothing there but a constant weight.

“Fitz! You replicated cloaking!”

Jemma and Fitz immediately shushed her, looking around. “He wasn’t supposed to! It’s above his ‘level’. Professor Weaver practically forbid him.”

Daisy’s eyes widened. This was very Fitz. Tell him he can’t, and he will, just to prove it to himself. Holding it up to eye level and moving it around, Daisy marveled at the seamless invisibility. “What are you gonna do with it?”

Fitz shrugged. He began to explain a number of uses for the device, along with the technical modifications he’d have to make for them to work. She tuned out after Jemma exasperatedly told him they couldn’t train monkeys to be invisible recon scouts.

Her plan to learn something from Fitzsimmons banter was derailed when Daisy noticed a shadow at the corner of her eye. It slipped away as quickly as it came, around the corner of the cafeteria and out of sight.

Why was she getting déjà vu?

“Dais, you alright there?” Fitz asked quietly.

Daisy turned back to him, smiling. “Yeah, I thought I saw something. Probably just tired.”

The sandy blonde boy laughed, “S’only Tuesday, Dais. We’ve got a whole week ahead of us!”

“Ugh, don’t remind me. I’ve got six tests this week!” Simmons countered.

Daisy’s mouth opened in surprise, quickly shut when Fitz made a comment about catching flies. “Wait, so you aren’t excited for the tests?”

Jemma shook her head miserably, her amber eyes rolling. “No. Usually I would be, it’s so odd! But I was studying the other night and reviewing old tests, and my chest felt so heavy and my head started spinning—”

Fitz stopped her by putting his hand over hers, gently reassuring her. Watching the two, Daisy thought her heart might burst, a bubbly feeling rising in her chest.

Jemma turned back to her, considerably less distressed.

“Do you want some help studying?” Daisy offered.

Jemma nodded. “Tonight, 8, the rooftop?”

The group nodded.

At eight o’clock, Daisy carefully climbed out her window and around the corner to the fire escape. The stairs whispered and creaked with the wind, but you would never know anyone was climbing the iron to the roof unless you ran directly into her.

She arrived at the last landing, one floor above her own, and crouched down. She jumped, using small quakes as a make-shift propulsor. Jemma turned her head towards the soft thump of Daisy landing on the roof.

The space was decorated with a jungle of potted plants and fairy lights strung around the ledge, mix-matched multicoloured and shades of white. They cast a warm glow across the spread of notes and textbooks neatly placed in front of Jemma. Daisy approached, pulling out her laptop and a pouch of pens, pencils, highlighters, and white-out.

“Ready for our study date?”

Jemma smiled. “Yes. Fitz should be here any minute.”

The two girls got comfortable, beginning to go over notes and chat idly. Daisy wrote down vocab and key ideas on note cards and organised them by subject. Jemma laughed loudly when Daisy expressed her confusion at the difference between the three biochemistries that she was taking. Suddenly, loud clanging was heard from the side of the building.

“Daisy! Jems!”

The two girls shared a glance at the panicked voice. Fitz.

They rushed over to where he would be coming onto the iron landing, grabbing his hand and helping him over the concrete barrier onto the roof.

Fitz supported himself on his knees, panting. “There's a guy down there. Creepy bastard.”

Jemma and Daisy shared another glance, this one full of concern and trepidation.

Fitz pointed to Daisy. “Askin’ about you, Dais. Your…” Fitz trailed off, drawing waves in the air with his hand.

Jemma rested a hand on Daisy’s shoulder, squeezing slightly. “Go check it out, we’ll be here when you get back.”

Daisy reluctantly jumped onto the metal landing below, resisting the urge to use her powers to cushion her landing. She quickly checked the perimeter of the dorm, then wandered closer to the forest that backed up to the dorms.

If only she had night vision as well as the power to create earthquakes.

A subtle movement caught her eye, a dark silhouette shifting in between the trees. A haze of clouds covered the moon, making the forest darker than usual. Daisy stepped forward slowly, her breath speeding up.

The air seemed electric, the few clouds in the sky bloodred with the remaining rays of sunset. The tall pines and thick oaks were silhouetted black against the sky, branches seeming to reach out to grab the twilight shadows. Daisy threw a quick glance over her shoulder, letting out a relieved exhale when she saw Fitz and Jemma watching over her from the roof.

A twig snapped right in front of Daisy, the treeline only twenty feet away. Daisy felt the echo bounce around the forest. She took a deep breath, steadying her hands and lungs. Something, someone, was right on the other side of those bushes…

“AAGH!”

A deer leapt out of the brush, landing right in front of her. Its large doe eyes stared at her, ears back. It was just a fawn.

Daisy slowly let out a sigh of relief, dropping her arms from where they had come up in front of her. She snorted.

“You’re just a baby. What are you doing in the bushes by yourself?”

Daisy tentatively reached out, the fawn showed no signs of moving. She opened her palm, letting the deer sniff before it bounded away across the field.

Daisy sighed. She felt something was off, like you would the moment before you were struck by lightning. Like any second, something else would pop out of the forest, this time a real threat…

Silence.

Stillness.

Daisy sighed, shaking her head and rubbing her eyes. I just need sleep. If the paranoia has set in, I definitely need sleep.

Daisy headed back to the dorms, the feeling of eyes on her following until she was safely on the roof with her friends.

The twinkling fairy lights lit the rest of their evening, shadows and deer forgotten in the warmth of laughs and starlight.

[combat-wombatus]

Hot Cocoa

Pairing: Iida Tenya x gn!reader

Warnings: brief cursing (mostly just bakugou being bakugou), some suggestive humor (m*neta is involved too)

Genre: fluff (a lil bit of crack bc why not)

WC: a bit over 8k? went slightly overboard with this idea and not entirely happy with the ending but i already rewrote it like 5 times so it is what it is-

(A/N): heya! so this is my first fic and i was kinda nervous about posting it...

it started out as an idea on @todorkihoe’s discord server but then it evolved into this monstrous nightmare so...it took me like a whole week to hash everything out and the logistics of the secret santa thing was an absolute nightmare. but it was worth it!!

It was the holiday season. Most people were taking time off of work to hang out with their friends and family. You had wanted nothing more than to relax in your hot tub with a glass of sparkling cranberry juice and scrumptious holiday cookies, but being a pro-hero meant sacrifices.

You were signed on as a sidekick in the UA Hero Agency’s Tokyo branch. The UA Hero Agency was exactly that: a hero agency formed by the most illustrious graduating class at UA. Not everyone from their class eventually went into the agency, but they were a large agency, with around 36 pro-heroes working full-time. This meant that they had several branches. You, a recent graduate from UA, knew these heroes who were a year above you at UA. They were special. When you started at UA, there were already whispers about “the Class of Legends”. Every single person who graduated the year after had been through enormous trauma during their years at UA. You thought that they were true heroes: strong, unbending even in the face of overwhelming adversity. They were only in their first year when they had been attacked by villains: twice. One of them had even been kidnapped. You couldn’t even begin to fathom how hard they must have worked to get to where they were today. They were resilient, and it showed. The UA Hero Agency is now one of the top Hero Agencies in not only Japan, but also the world. In fact, with their combined power, you wouldn’t be surprised if they happened to make an international branch. You knew that some of the heroes at your agency, Can’t Stop Sparkling and Pony, wanted to start something overseas but didn’t yet have the manpower to make it happen. You were sure that within a few years, their ranks bolstered by new graduates, they would take UA to the international stage.

So it was Christmas Eve. Even though you wanted the chance to chill out at home with some relaxing instrumental jazz and freshly baked sweets, you were out patrolling Tokyo’s vibrant shopping sector instead, on the lookout for villains who wished to ruin everyone else’s holiday fun. The mall was abuzz with shoppers, some hanging out in the verandas with cup of hot cocoa in their hands, others hurrying through, their arms loaded with shopping bags, searching for last-minute gifts they had previously forgotten to purchase. It was definitely not the worst patrol ever. The cozy atmosphere almost had you sighing in contentment, before you heard a voice shout, “thief!”

Of course a villain had to ruin the fun. They had a tendency to do that. You weren’t very comfortable using your quirk in such a loud, crowded area, but you bet that you could catch a small-time shoplifter without it anyways. You raced through the crowd, tracing the voice that had called out moments earlier. You saw a tuft of orange hair weaving unnaturally through the crowd of shoppers, and sprinted forwards, your eyes locked on the target. You followed the path they had created unknowingly for you, trying not to draw attention to yourself. It would only slow you down and light a fire under the criminal, which was exactly what you didn’t need.

Within moments, you caught up to them. Sneaking up behind them, you snatched their wrist and smacked your quirk-suppressing cuffs on it.

“Fuck!” He swore. How did he get caught so quickly? He could have sworn that there was no one chasing him. Pesky heroes. Relying on the comparative lack of heroes patrolling during the holidays, as well as the customary holiday shopping rush, was a sound strategy. He had done the same in previous years without getting caught. If only that damned, nosy civilian hadn’t shouted…

“Please do not resist arrest. It will be easier for all parties involved. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say may be used against you in a court of law. There are eyewitnesses to your crime. Please drop your bags and hold out your other wrist.” You said calmly. You had a beautiful voice. It was calming and had a lilt to it that was a byproduct of your quirk. The villain did as you said, knowing that there would be no escape.

You sighed. Pressing a button on the comms situated in your ear, you reported the situation back to your office. You then called the nearest detective station and waited until their patrol car got here so you could hand the man over. Glancing at your watch, you realized your patrol was almost over. You did one last sweep of the premises, then headed back to the agency.

Today, the agency was the emptiest you had ever seen it. It was a large building, with 20 above-ground floors. In fact, it was essentially a mini-city. There was a heated indoor pool, a sauna, an elite gym that would make fitness junkies drool, a massage and spa, three verandas, and a rooftop greenhouse. It had a café reminiscent of the UA cafeteria, and all types of cuisines were available. In fact, Lunch Rush’s niece was working in the café, and the food was always heavenly. Sometimes, heroes from other agencies would drop off at the UA Hero Agency just for a bite of food after a long patrol. It was the unofficial headquarters of all the hero agencies in Japan, and it certainly lived up to its reputation.

Thinking about the café, you were suddenly hungry for some pad thai. Arriving at the door, you dropped off your comms and cloak at the door to your office and headed down to the café for some food.

“(Y/N)!!! You’re back!” Your friend squealed.

“Yeah Mina, just got off of patrol. Arrested this shoplifter trying to take advantage of the holiday chaos.” Spying her coat in her hands, you realized she was on her way out.

“Cool! You’re always so efficient with your arrests. Anyhow, I’m going to head home. My parents and I are getting some dinner together. I’ll be back for the party, yeah? Don’t open any presents without me!” Mina waved, a grin on her face. You assured her that you would make sure everyone waited for her to celebrate. You wanted to see your parents too, but they were currently on an international tour. They were famous singers, pioneers of a new genre of music. It was a sort of lullaby, but it wasn’t meant to put people to sleep. It was more of an enchanting, calming kind of music present only in fantasy books before your mother brought it to life. She was wildly popular, and your father was only too happy to support her. Speaking of which, your phone rang in your pocket. You took it out and accepted the video call.

“(Y/N)! It’s so nice to see you baby! How’s it going? I know you had patrols today but I forgot about the time difference and your father had to stop me before I called you and distracted you during patrols! He’s always so paranoid you’ll hurt yourself, sweetie. Stay safe, okay?” Your mother was always cheerful.

“Yeah mom, I know. I’m doing pretty well, actually. I arrested a shoplifter today,” you replied, recounting the same story you just told Mina. “Everything’s pretty calm here. How’s your tour going? I missed you,” you asked her.

“That’s good to hear sweetie!” You mom smiled. “The tour is amazing. I’ve never had such an international turnout before! Maybe I need to start considering singing in other languages! Everyone’s always so supportive.” You smiled at her, happy that she was enjoying herself.

“You deserve it Mom. I’m glad that your music is appealing to an international audience. You always work so hard. It’s nice to see that people appreciate all that you’ve done.”

“Thanks sweetie. Here, I’ll let your dad talk to you for a bit.” There was a bit of shuffling on her end as she handed the phone over to your father.

“Hey sweetheart,” your father’s voice boomed through the phone. You held your phone away from your ear, wincing a bit. Quickly dialing the volume down, you responded.

“Hey Papa. Mom said the tour was going well.”

“Yeah, it is. How’s the holidays going for you?” You heard the slight sadness in his voice. You knew that he wanted Mom to take a break in the middle of the tour and spend Christmas with you, but Mom was adamant about it. It was a holiday tour, after all, and tickets had already been booked. Some people were going to see her concerts as a way of celebrating, and she wouldn’t let them down.

“I’m doing good. It’s pretty peaceful here. No big missions or anything,” you say, in an attempt to comfort him.

“Ok, that’s good to hear sweetheart. We miss you.”

“I miss you too, Papa. Don’t worry though, I’ll be here when you guys get back. Have fun in Paris!” You replied, suddenly feeling sad. “Bye Papa! Bye Mom! I’ll see you guys soon!” You blew a kiss to the camera and hung up. Sighing a little, you trotted towards Emiko, the revered chef.

“Can I have a pad thai please?” You asked, putting your phone back in your pocket.

“One pad thai, coming right up!” Emiko beamed. “So, I hear there’s a party tonight. Should I make anything special?”

You thought about it for a bit, then shook your head. “No, you don’t have to. It’s mostly just for the presents. We already have the booze covered. I think Momo is ordering some special hors d’œuvres already and Sato is taking care of the cookies. Are you coming?”

Emiko shook her head. “I’m spending the night with my family and my boyfriend. I think I might make you guys some tiramisu though. I have all the ingredients and I don’t want them to spoil since I’ll be gone for a few days. Desserts are my specialty anyways,” she added. Then, with a knowing smirk, she prodded your arm. “Do you have anyone on your mind? You know, Mina and Ochaco hung some mistletoe up before they left…”

You blushed. Of course they did. Your friends knew all about your one-sided crush. You also knew that he would still be working here. He was always working. You were pretty sure that he had the mind of a robot, focused only on his work and his legacy. With those hand motions he made, you weren’t surprised if he actually was one. You shook your head to get rid of these thoughts. Emiko didn’t know. At least, you didn’t think she knew. You really regretted telling Mina about your little crush. With her tendency to run her mouth, you wouldn’t be surprised if the entire agency knew already. With the exception of your actual crush, of course. He was simply too socially dense to see the signs and too uninterested to pry.

Taking your pad thai, you scurried away from a smug Emiko and plopped yourself down at a table. You dug into your noodles and sighed in contentment. Maybe working during the holidays wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t like you had friends who weren’t as busy as you were anyways.

You finished the last of your noodles, then got up and took your tray to the recycling area. Heading up to your office, you paused by Ingenium’s office. His door was cracked open, and you peeked inside. You had to muffle your giggles at the sight.

He was wrapping presents with such a focused look on his face that you found absolutely adorable. His brows were furrowed, the tip of his tongue poking out of his mouth. He had a spool of ribbons laying on the floor next to him, as well as elegant white-and-gold wrapping paper and a roll of tape. What really amused you was the pile of paper, ribbons, and tape that was bunched together and tossed aside, obviously a result of trial and error. Iida looked frustrated. He had already put his presents in boxes so that they were almost uniform in size and easier to wrap, but he was clearly struggling. You estimated that he had forty boxes littering the floor, but he only had five wrapped. You watched as he ripped off the wrapping on the newest box he had started on, muttering about how hard it was to get straight edges with the wrapping paper. Knocking lightly on his door, you stuck your head around the doorway.

“Need some help?” You asked.

Iida looked up from unspooling more wrapping paper. His face brightened at your offer.

“Yes please, (Y/L/N)-san! I would greatly appreciate your aid. I seem to be having trouble folding the paper and trying to tape it together without it sliding from its position. If you could hold the paper in place while I tape, that would be wonderful!” He looked so excited, almost like a puppy.

You smiled at his eagerness. “Of course, I’d be happy to help.”

You sat down across from him and held the wrapping paper in place while he tore off a piece of tape. The two of you worked in tandem for around an hour, until you finished wrapping all the presents. You sat back, face flushed, and surveyed your work. All forty presents, wrapped with elegant paper and tied up prettily with a gold organza ribbon, were laid out neatly on the floor. It was a satisfying sight. Rolling out your back and cracking your knuckles, you got up from the floor.

“Those were a lot of presents, Iida-san,” you yawned, stretching your arms back like a cat. “Do you want to go down and get some hot cocoa? Emiko already left, but I can make us some.”

Iida got up too. His glasses were slightly askew on his face, and he had a dazed look about him. “That would be greatly appreciated, (Y/L/N)-san. Thank you very much for helping me wrap my presents. It was irresponsible of me to leave them until the last minute.”

“Of course, Iida-san,” you replied. “We were all so busy before the holidays I’m surprised you wanted to wrap everything as fancy as you did. I know that I just stuck my presents in bags, covered them with tissue paper, and called it a day! You didn’t even buy those sticky bows, you tied them with real ribbons. That’s dedication!”

Iida blushed furiously at your compliments. It’s the perfect time to confess to her, he thought. We’re alone, and there’s no one here to see if she rejects me. He took in a deep breath, trying to muster the courage to say something to you, but before he could, you grabbed his hand and dragged him down the hallway for some much-desired peppermint hot cocoa.

Humming lightly to yourself as you lead Iida down the halls, you entered the elevator and pressed the button for the ground floor. Releasing his hand, you clasped your hands behind your back, hoping he wouldn’t notice how they were shaking slightly. Wow, you thought. I really did that. I really just snatched his hand like that. Ugh, he probably hated it every second of the way, he’s just too polite to say anything. God, my palms are so sweaty. Why did I do this to myself?

Unbeknownst to you, Iida was having a mental freak-out of his own. Ahh! She grabbed my hand! And she didn’t seem to hate it! Does this mean she really doesn’t mind my company? Maybe I actually do have a chance with her! No, stop, he told himself. She was probably just tired of how I was staring at her and decided to do something about it. Ugh, I was staring at her, wasn’t I? God, I’m such a creep. Iida wiped his palms on his slacks, then reached up and adjusted his glasses, trying to hide the obvious blush on his face.

“Ding!”

The elevator stopped at the ground floor, and the two of you stepped out into the lobby. The decorations had been up for two weeks already, but it still took your breath away every time you saw it. There were garlands of lights strung high all over the ceiling, and dainty little ornaments hung from the chandeliers. There was a huge Christmas tree next to the fireplace, the floor around it coated in snowy fuzz. You had to resist the temptation to jump in on multiple occasions. You couldn’t help yourself! It just looked so fuzzy and comfortable, like clouds of cotton candy…

The Christmas tree was decorated tastefully. There was a surprising lack of hero-themed ornaments, mostly due to Momo’s elegant decorating. You had all been in agreement when you refused to let Kaminari or Mineta even touch the tree.

Making your way to the kitchen, you relaxed a little when you breathed in the apple-scented candles. It was a surprising choice for a holiday scent. Usually, pine or cinnamon were much more popular scents. You had gotten the privilege to choose the candles though, and although you almost fainted sniffing at every single scent in the candle store, you decided on apple. It was nice and refreshing, with just a subtle touch towards the holiday season. You liked the change of pace from the usual holiday scents, and it seemed it was growing on everyone else too. You stopped at the cabinets that contained the hot cocoa bombs. Emiko had seen these as an online trend with the food community, and she had made dozens of them “as an experiment”. Everyone fell in love with them (because heroes are allowed to be childish!) and they stuck. Now, the agency had an entire cabinet in the kitchen dedicated to the delightful goodies.

“Oat or regular?” You asked Iida.

Iida had, unfortunately, spaced out again. He was thinking about how cute you looked, standing on your tiptoes to reach the cabinet.

“Hello? Earth to Iida-san,” you turned around and waved a hand in front of his face. “You okay there?”

Iida blinked and had to recompose himself again. He kept getting distracted. This was not good. Not good at all.

“Regular is fine,” he replied, his face flushing once again. He really needed to stop daydreaming.

You poured out some milk into a jug and heated it. Then, you placed a hot cocoa bomb in each mug, licking some sprinkles off your fingers as you did so. Once the milk was ready, you filled each mug to the brim, careful not to spill any. It smelled absolutely delectable. Taking a spoon from the cabinets, you stirred both cups slowly, letting the chocolate melt at an even pace.

Iida was watching all of this, and he was still having an internal debate over when to confess. Would it be better to wait until you both finished the hot cocoa? Should he even confess to you on Christmas? What if his confession ruined your holidays? He began to sweat a little, his anxiety rising with each thought. Before he could come up with an excuse to escape, you stuffed a mug into his large hands.

“All done!” You exclaimed, taking a sip of your own cocoa, careful not to burn yourself.

Iida was not so lucky. Distracted by his thoughts, he raised the mug to his lips and gulped.

“Shit!” Iida swore. You blinked at him, a little shocked since he never swore, then immediately put your mug down and raced to the refrigerator to collect some ice cubes. Iida promptly put his offensive mug of cocoa on the counter, glaring at it like it just murdered his dog. Dumping some ice cubes in a glass, you hurried back towards Iida and popped one in his mouth.

“You really should be more careful next time, Iida-san,” you chided. “I just made it! You shouldn’t take such large swigs of a piping hot drink!”

“Sorry, I got distracted.” Iida replied absentmindedly.

“Distracted? By what?” Your curiosity was now piqued.

Iida’s face turned ever redder than before. He averted his eyes and mumbled out some quiet words that you couldn’t quite catch.

“Sorry, what was that?” You gazed up at him. “I couldn’t hear what you said.”

Iida’s hands were stuck to his thighs to prevent himself from freaking you out with aggressive hand gestures, and he didn’t think he’d ever been more nervous in his entire life. He cleared his throat. “I said that I got distracted by you.”

Now it was your turn to blush. “Really?” Your voice was quiet, almost a whisper. You weren’t sure if you heard that right, and your heart was beating so fast you were afraid that he’d hear it.

Iida finally looked at you. “Really,” he confirmed.

You wrung your hands and stepped towards him. Raising your eyes to meet his, your voice a half-whisper, you gulped before your next words.

“I like you.”

Blinking twice, Iida unclasped his hands and pinched his forearm. He winced in pain, then blinked again. You laughed at his antics, then clapped a hand playfully on his bicep.

“I’m real, Iida-san. I’m right here!”

Slowly, a grin crept up Iida’s face. “Really?” He mumbled, obviously still not entirely convinced he wasn’t dreaming.

You chuckled at how you had just asked the same thing moments earlier, but then you grabbed his large hand with your smaller one and squeezed.

“Really.” You smiled bashfully.

The two of you stood in silence for a while, then Iida spoke up.

“I like you too, (Y/L/N)-san.” Feeling bold now that he knew his feelings were reciprocated, he drew his other arm across your shoulders and drew you into a tight hug. You sighed, feeling comfortable and safe in his arms. A part of you wanted to stay like this forever and never wanted him to let go.

“Would you like to go on a date with me on Saturday afternoon at 3?” Iida’s voice rumbled in your ear.

You were bursting with excitement. A date! A real, formal, date! “I’d love to, but why so specific?” You giggled.

“Ahh, well, my patrol ends at 2:30, so I thought-”

Of course Iida volunteered for patrols the weekend after Christmas. Did this man ever take a break?

“No problem at all, Iida-san. That sounds lovely.”

Iida released you from the hug and rubbed lightly at the back of his neck. “You can… you can call me Tenya, if you’d like.”

You were smiling so big that you feared your face would split. “I’d love that, Tenya.” His eyes crinkled when you called him by his first name. “And you can call me (Y/N).”

Iida nodded his head. “(Y/N). I like that,” he said to himself. He muttered your name a few times, getting used to the way it rolled off his tongue. You blushed and hugged him again, pressing your nose into his chest. He was just too adorable.

You wanted to stay like that, but your phone dinging incessantly in your pocket made it uncomfortable.

Mina

(Y/N)!!! my parents ordered this WHOLE-ASS TURKEY for dinner with JUST THE 3 OF US!!! how we gon finish it all?!?

Mina

*burps* we did it. we finished all of it. the whole turkey. (Y/N). we. finished. a. whole. fucking. turkey. pls send help i can’t walk (Y/NNNNNNNN)!!!

(Y/N)

want me to call u an uber … mina mina MINA MINA DID U PASS OUT im calling an uber mina istg

Quickly sending an Uber to the restaurant Mina was at, you put your phone back in your pocket and looked up at Tenya.

“Hey. Do you wanna get your presents and put them under the tree?” You asked.

Tenya quickly straightened up. “Thank you for reminding me, (Y/N). I had almost forgotten about them!”

“No problem!” You chirped. “Let’s go!” You took his hand in yours again and lead the way to the elevator. As the elevator chimed, the two of you waltzed in, hands still clasped together.

Humming a little tune to yourself, you stepped out of the elevator. You and Tenya entered his office, and each returned with an armful of presents, carefully stacked as to avoid damaging the delicate ribbons the two of you had spent so much time tying.

It was a tradition in the agency to get everyone something small. However, you participated in gift exchanges every year. This year, it was a Secret Santa-type exchange, but the UA Hero Agency did Secret Santa’s a bit differently. Instead of giving your partner the gift on Christmas Eve, the gifts were labeled with typed name tags in generic Times New Roman font. Then, there was the guessing portion. Everyone got 3 guesses at the party when they first open it, and after that, they get one guess per week. Whoever held out the longest (avoided being guessed) would win a batch of Sato’s homemade cookies, a week of free food from Emiko, and two patrol coupons (basically the adult version of homework passes). This year, you had drawn Bakugo as your partner. You’d decided to get him a ¥4,000 gift card to his favorite ramen restaurant, as well as a high-quality leather jacket. The gifts were pretty generic, and you thought that you had a chance at the prize. You chuckled to yourself when you remembered that last year, Momo had been so frustrated when she hadn’t figured out who had given her a pretty earring and necklace set after two months that she’d used Creation to make fingerprint dust and swiped it all over the box. It had turned out to be Todoroki. Needless to say, he’d won the prize that year.

The two of you made a few more trips, carrying gifts from his office to the tree. Checking the time, you saw that it had been an hour since Ochaco’s patrol ended. Right as you were about to call her, the front door to the lobby burst open.

“(Y/N)!!!” Your friend screeched, holding up a kitten with fur the color of cinnamon. “Look what I found on my patrol! I had to take her to the vet really quickly to make sure she wasn’t hurt, and she didn’t seem to have an owner. Just look at her!”

You beamed. The kitten was absolutely ADORABLE. And not only was Ochaco safe, she brought a kitten back with her!

“Can I hold her?” You asked.

“Duh!” Ochaco passed the kitten from her arms to yours. Behind her, you saw Bakugou walking sullenly, arms drawn tight across his chest. You stifled a giggle at the sight. He obviously wanted a turn with the kitten too, but his pride wouldn’t let him as for it.

“We were coming back from patrols and I saw this little one stuck in a tree! And when I floated up to take her down, she just looked so sad. There wasn’t a collar on her or anything, so we took her to the vet. It seems like she was abandoned,” Ochaco pouted. “And so we asked the vet to vaccinate her and everything, and we brought her back here! Can we keep her? Mr. Grumpy over there already said yes.”

Tenya looked like he was about to object, seeing as this building had a no-pets policy, but then he saw how your face lit up and the idea and changed his mind. Maybe having a pet on the premises wouldn’t be too bad, he conceded. It’s not like there were other people sharing the building with them anyways.

“Of course we can keep her!” You squealed. Bakugou huffed a sigh. He’d have to deal with all these idiots fawning over the kitten for weeks, and he wasn’t happy about that, but there was no denying that the thing was cute. He’d mellowed out since his high school days and seeing a therapist for anger management classes certainly helped.

The kitten felt warm and fuzzy in your arms, and when you stroked it down its back with the palm of your hand, it let out a satisfied purr.

“What should we name her?” Ochaco asked.

You thought about it for a moment. “Well, since you found her, and her fur is brownish, why not Coco?”

“Coco! I love it!” She beamed. Coco purred again. “It looks like she likes it too!”

You smiled and looked down on the kitty. “Coco,” You murmured. “Welcome to the family.”

Just then, Mina burst through the doors, brimming with energy and not looking at all as if she’d fainted from turkey overconsumption.

“Mina!” You ran towards her. “I thought you fainted or something!” You accused, poking her in the chest. “You didn’t even leave me on read!! You just LEFT!”

“Chill, chill, girly, I’m alive and kicking! Just had to take a quick nap because of my digestive woes,” She flashed you a big thumbs-up. “And what’s this I see? Do we have an agency pet now? Did Shinso sneak it in his pocket from the cat cafe?”

“Shinso what?”

“Cat cafe?”

“I KNEW there was something fishy about his jacket the other day!”

You, Tenya, and Ochaco said at the same time.

Mina stared at all of you, then shook her head. “Never mind.”

Turning around, you looked at Ochaco. “I wanna hear about this later, you hear?”

“Alright, alright!” Mina shouted. “Change into your holiday gear! Let’s get this rolling!”

You had made a sweater especially for tonight. Knitting was a great way to relax, and huddling up in a cozy armchair with the soft yarn, some hot cocoa, and your favorite book, you had finished your holiday-themed sweater in two weeks. Now, you would finally get the chance to wear it. The sweater you made was white, a soft gold-and-silver threading woven through in the pattern of snowflakes. It was a basic winter pattern, but you were proud of your work.

Setting Coco down on the couch, you headed into the locker rooms to change into your sweater and some flannel pajama bottoms. Walking out, you noticed Tenya was still in his business attire, which looked pretty uncomfortable by your standards, although it did fit him nicely.

“Tenya,” you called out. “Are you wearing that to the party?”

He turned around at your voice, looking slightly taken aback. “Yes, as a matter of fact, I am. Why?”

“Nothing, just wondering,” you replied. Good thing that your present to him was a nice, cozy, hand-knit sweater. You may or may not have thought about making him a matching one, but then you’d decided that it was too forward.

“You look…” Tenya stared at you. “You look…cute,” he said, with a small blush on his face.

Blushing at his compliment, you smiled and ducked your head. “Thanks.”

“Your sweater…it looks nice,” he added.  

Playing with the hems of your sleeves, you smiled up at him bashfully. “Thanks. I made it myself. I really like knitting. It’s kind of therapeutic.”

“Oh, wow. You are truly very talented, (Y/N)!” Tenya praised.

“Thanks.” You rubbed the back of your neck. It seemed like you had lost the ability to say anything else. Why did you suck so much at making small talk?

Just then, Mina stepped out from the locker room and saved you from any further embarrassment.

“Hey, has Yaomomo come down yet?” Mina asked.

“No, she hasn’t. Do you want me to go get her?” You answered.

“Nah, it’s alright, I’ll just text her real quick.” Mina pulled out her phone, fingers dancing rapidly across the screen, then put it back in her pocket. Minutes later, Momo stepped out of the elevator, already dressed in a red sweater and white jeans. She always looked so put-together. You were sure that she had a second quirk.

“Yaomomo!” Mina screeched, running up to her friend. “You’ll never guess what I ate for dinner!”

You groaned as Mina recounted her dining disaster. You loved Mina, but her tendency to tell her experiences to everyone multiple times could sometimes get a little annoying. Trying your best to tune her out, you tapped Tenya’s shoulder and moved to settle on the couch with Coco.

“Hey, (Y/N)!” Mina shouted. “Come here!”

Begrudgingly, you stood up again, having just sat down moments earlier. “What is it, Mina?”

“We forgot to introduce Coco! Yaomomo hasn’t seen her yet!”

Oh right. You did forget. You lifted Coco with both hands, then scurried over to where Ochaco, Mina, and Momo huddled. Momo let out a quiet “aww” when she saw the kitty and lifted her manicured hands in a silent invitation to hold her.

You gently placed Coco in her outstretched arms and was about to turn and leave when Mina grabbed your elbow. “Not so fast, (Y/N),” she scolded you sternly. “Picture time!”

Mina took out her phone and swiped open the camera app. You girls all huddled together as she snapped a picture for the fans.

Settling back down with Coco on the couch, surrounded by your friends, you didn’t think that you had ever felt happier. One by one, more of your friends and coworkers began to trickle in, until finally, when a disgruntled Jirou arrived with a protesting Kaminari in tow, Mina stood up.

“Alright! Everyone’s here now, so let’s get this party rolling!”

She bounced off to the kitchen to grab plates for everyone. You could smell Sato’s freshly-baked cookies from here, and your stomach growled in response. Remembering the tiramisu that Emiko had made, you followed Mina into the kitchen.

Mina held a stack of plates that covered half her face. It was wobbling slightly, the entire thing almost toppling over multiple times. You had gotten out the fancier cake platter and was currently in hyper-focus mode, carefully moving the tiramisu from its cake mold onto the crystal platter. You breathed out a sigh of relief as the process was finally completed and the cake hadn’t been ruined.

Holding the crystal tray with both hands, you stepped out into the lobby, marched over to the coffee table in the center, and slowly set the tray down.

“Hey guys, Emiko made us some tiramisu,” You called out. “Come here if you want some.” You held a cake knife in your hand and began serving everyone.

Tenya watched all of this with barely-hidden admiration. You were just so competent. So hard-working, so kind, and so wonderfully skilled at everything you do. Even the things that you weren’t good at, you tried your hardest to learn and to improve. He was definitely in deep, and to be honest, he didn’t mind a single bit. You were worthy of being admired, and he vowed that he would let you know in all the ways he could.

As you served the last slice of tiramisu to Ojiro, you carried the cake platter back to the kitchen and sat down next to Shinsou, who was, not surprisingly, hogging all of Coco’s attention. Seeing you, Coco scrambled over Shinsou’s lap and faceplanted into yours. You laughed at her enthusiasm and snorted when you heard Shinsou mutter “traitor” underneath his breath.

“So Shinsou,” you started casually. “What’s this I hear about you stealing cats from the cat café?”

Shinsou’s face immediately turned a tomato red. He put his hands up defensively. “No, wait, you have it all wrong- I swear- who told you about it anyways? Never mind,” he stopped his waving motions. You snickered. You were definitely getting the full story out of him later. For now, you had things to do.

Strolling over casually to Tenya with Coco still in your arms, you very sneakily dropped her, front paws landing gracefully, onto Bakugou’s head.

“Hey! What’s this damn cat doing here!” Bakugou yelped. Coco also yelped, and it came to you that dropping her on Bakugou’s spikey hair was probably not the best idea ever. However, as Coco quickly scampered down and curled up on Bakugou’s shoulder, and Kirishima was sitting next to him to make sure he didn’t kill the cat, you felt a sense of triumph. Bakugo was smiling. Not smirking, not grinning maniacally as he beat someone up, but genuinely smiling. You gave yourself an internal high five as you moved onto your next goal.

You walked hesitantly towards Tenya, and when he turned his head towards you, about to ask what you were doing, you quickly linked your hand with his and started leading him towards the rest of the group.

“(Y-Y/N) ?” Tenya sputtered. “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing?” You replied cheekily. “I want to hold hands with you!”

“B-but, do they know?” Tenya gestured nervously with his free hand.

“Nope, but they’re about to,” you grimaced, thinking about all the teasing you’d have to endure from your friends later. Better to just get this over with during the party, when everyone had the attention span of a goldfish and any embarrassing moments would hopefully be forgotten moments later when more exciting things came along, such as Mineta’s annual lingerie gift. Whatever the powers that be were doing, they were definitely not doing the world any favors when they let Mineta draw a girl for the Secret Santa every single year. But, for all the bad things you could say about Mineta, he definitely consumes enough material to have at least semi-decent taste in lingerie. Surprising, and sometimes gross, but not entirely unwelcomed if you could manage to forget who gifted it. The most disturbing thing was he knew all the girls’ sizes. You tried your hardest to not think about that. It’s not like you could erase his memory anyways.

You settled down with Tenya on a vacant couch, inwardly counting the minutes until someone noticed your position. Tenya looked vaguely uncomfortable, his posture ramrod straight, and you squeezed his hand in reassurance.

“No one’s going to judge or anything, if that’s what you’re worried about,” you whispered into his ear. “And besides, at least half the girls already knew I had a crush on you, so this won’t entirely come as news to them.”

Tenya relaxed slightly at that, then stiffened again when he noticed a pair of eyes glancing his way.

Midoriya had been excited at seeing Ochaco for the first part of the evening, but then had wondered where his other friend had gone. He knew Tsu was in southern Japan, as she couldn’t stand the cold and was operating in the warm coastal areas instead, but Iida being absent was strange. He had searched around the lobby, and when his eyes descended upon you and Iida cuddling on the couch, he was intrigued, to say the least.

He stared at the two of you for a solid minute, not wanting to disturb your peace. Slowly, he turned back to Ochaco, thinking that it wasn’t his place to draw attention to the two of you.

Ochaco, however, had no such qualms. Noticing how Deku began to space out during their conversation, she followed his line of vision to the two of you, blinked twice to check if she was seeing it right, then immediately let out a squeal.

Heads turned at the sound, and in moments, everyone was staring at you and Tenya curiously. You hadn’t noticed the attention yet, but Tenya had, and he grew stiffer and stiffer until you finally looked up at his face with furrowed brows.

“Tenya, what’s wrong?” You whispered. “Do you not enjoy cuddling? I can stop if you’d like,” your lips were pressed together in concern.

“I-it’s not that,” Tenya whispered back. “Look.”

You finally raised your head from his chest and saw thirty pairs of eyes staring back. After a few moments of silence, the room erupted.

“Iida-kun! Why didn’t you tell us?” Midoriya was the first to raise a question.

“(Y/NNNNNN)!!!!!!!!!!!” Mina practically screamed as she ran towards you. She clasped her hands dramatically over her heart. “YOU DID IT YOU DID IT YOU DID IT OMG YOU GUYS ARE SO ADORABLE EEEEE!!!!!!”

Half the room winced at her loud tone, and you quickly moved Coco from your lap to save her from the incoming bear hug.

Mina launched herself in your arms, then stepped back and shook your shoulders until you felt your brain rattling around in your skull like soupy mush.

“(Y/N)! What did I say, huh? Bitch I TOLD you that he liked you too, and you wait three goddamn months to finally make a move!?! Honey-”

Your face flushed red. Gently, you pushed her away. “Mina, stop,” you whispered, horrified that she was making a scene. It was too late. Ochaco and Hagakure rushed towards you, Momo trailing more slowly behind them. The boys were stunned for a bit, since you had always seemed so quiet and shy, much less Iida’s feelings towards you. As their initial shock wore off, Midoriya trailed after Momo to approach Iida.

“Congratulations, Iida-kun!” He held up his arms in front of his chest. “You and (Y/N) are really cute together!”

“Yeah bro! That’s so manly that you finally confessed!” Kirishima added, with a quirk of his lips and a thumbs-up.

“Tch. Fucking coward. Took you idiots three fucking months to confess, huh.” Bakugou smirked, but you could tell he wasn’t really annoyed. You actually somewhat got along with him, due to all the times Mina would drag you to hang out with her friends.

You struggled vainly against the arms of your friends encasing you. “Guys,” you pleaded. “Let me out, please.”

Reluctantly, the girls let go, and you immediately tried to redirect their attention. “Shouldn’t we start opening presents?” You asked hopefully.

“Oh, you sneaky little thing,” Mina wagged her finger in your face. “Don’t think we’ll forget about this, (Y/N), but you’re right, we should start opening presents or we’ll be here all night.”

“We’ll be here all night anyways,” Todoroki pointed out.

“You knew what I meant,” Mina sighed.

Mina enlisted the help of Ojiro and Shoji to pass out the Secret Santa presents; you’d all open the rest of your personal presents later.

The best way to go about this, after years of trial and error, was for everyone to open their presents at the same time. It would simply take too long for everyone to open theirs one by one, and you’d all realized that the people who opened theirs first had a significant disadvantage when it came to guessing who their partner was, as the ones who opened theirs later had the benefit of some options already being eliminated. When you opened your present, you tried your hardest to hold back a squeal. It was a limited-edition album from your favorite artist! You hugged it close to your chest, and immediately knew who gave it to you. Jirou. Her parents were musicians too, and you had bonded over your love of this artist. It was a thoughtful gift, and you were glad that she had given it to you, even though it immediately gave her away.

The rest of your friends opened their presents. Poor Momo. No wonder Mineta had looked so gleeful earlier. He had been her Secret Santa and had gotten her a lacy black lingerie set. Her face was so red you were beginning to get scared that she would hyperventilate, but you had to admit that it was a pretty nice set. Mineta was basically drooling at this point, and Jirou was trying to comfort her while sending a death glare towards Mineta. Mineta, meanwhile, had received a new video game. Sero had received a large pack of farmer’s market coupons, as well as some homemade mochi from Ochaco, who had blushed and apologized profusely for not being able to afford something better for him. Sero just grinned and gave her a thumbs-up, saying that it was completely okay and that he appreciated her effort into gift-giving. She had brightened up a bit at that.

Koda had received a new hamster wheel along with some toys for his various pets. Shoji had been gifted a comfortable-looking poncho, as well as three pairs of matching gloves. Ochaco had received a generous sum of money, Midoriya had gotten a new set of comic books, and Iida had received a beanie and a multiflavored pack of tea. Aoyama had received a makeup set, and had gifted a makeup set as well, evidenced by his inability to contain himself and pounced on Hagakure, asking if she liked it. Hagakure was ecstatic, babbling about how she could finally show her face and how she’d never really been able to afford a full set before and how Aoyama was so considerate.

Sato had received a new baking pan, as well as cute mittens and a trending recipe book. He had given Setsuna a batch of cookies, as well as a gallon of frozen cookie dough with instructions on how to make it. There wasn’t really a point in him trying to win the contest, since he would be one of the people providing the prize. Mina had gotten fuzzy socks and a blanket, Kirishima had received a new pair of tennis shoes, and Jirou had been gifted a new pair of headphones. Ojiro had received some sort of custom tail armor with spikes along with an Amazon gift card, and Todoroki had gotten a hand-made red-and-white sweater with a red reindeer nose smack in the middle, along with a gift card to a hair salon, tucked into a bouquet of red-and-white candy canes. The only person you could think of that would go so far into the color scheme was Hagakure, who seemed like just the type to make an ugly sweater for fun. Shinsou had received earmuffs, a silk eye mask with a note (“to help you sleep”), and some gourmet coffee beans (“in case you still can’t”). Mina had seen the little notes that came with his gifts and started teasing him relentlessly about how sweet his Secret Santa was and how it was so cute that he had a secret admirer. Shinsou looked very nonchalant about it all and grumbled about how he just wanted to pet Coco and then go to bed.

Finally, Kaminari received some Pokémon cards to add to his collection (yes, he collected Pokémon cards, what was wrong with that?) along with another Pikachu plush, as per usual. It was an unspoken tradition that whoever drew Kaminari for their Secret Santa would get him a Pikachu plush along with whatever else they decided to give him. He had about twenty, collected over various years from birthdays and holidays. If this kept up, he’d be able to fill an entire closet with them once he retired.

As the chatter slowly died down, you snuggled into Tenya again. At some point during the present exchange, Shinsou had stolen Coco from the couch you occupied. Stifling a yawn, you pulled out a bag and handed it to Tenya.

“What’s this?” He asked, a slight smile on his face.

“It’s your gift, silly,” you booped him on the nose with your index finger.

“Ah, I see,” he replied, still smiling. “Do you want me to open it?”

“Duh,” you giggled into his chest. “What else would you do with it?”

Chuckling lightly, Tenya removed the tissue paper from the top of the bag. He stuck his hand inside, then pulled out a sweater. The sweater that you’d knitted for him. It was navy, the color of the yarn matching his hair, with gold and white snowflake detailing. His heart skipped a beat when he realized that you had made this especially for him, with your own hands. Putting the sweater down beside him, he wrapped his arms around you and pressed his face to your hair.

“Thank you, (Y/N),” he whispered. “I love it.”

You flushed, but you hugged him back. “You’d better,” you teased. “I spent two weeks on that.”

“Well, I appreciate it.” Tenya ruffled your hair.

The two of you stayed like that for a while, just soaking in the pleasant atmosphere. Yawning, you stretched out your arms, careful not to hit Tenya in the face. You gently pushed his arm off of your torso and got up to go to the bathroom.

When you came back, Tenya was nowhere to be seen. You searched around the common area and stepped briefly into the kitchen, but he wasn’t there. Sighing, you grabbed your parka and padded outside.

“Tenya?” You called out as you stuck your head around the doorframe. He was with Kirishima and Todoroki, clearing the entryway of the building of snow. You leaned back along the handrails of the stairs and watched. Your friends were all just so nice. So caring, so wonderful, so kind. As Todoroki evaporated the last bit of snow, you stepped aside to let them all head back in. As Tenya reached you, he paused briefly, looking up.

“What?” You tilted your head up also, curious to see what he was staring at. Oh. So this was where Mina and Ochaco had decided to hang the mistletoe. If Tenya hadn’t looked up, you would’ve missed its existence entirely. You looked back down at Tenya to gauge his reaction.

He gulped, and softly taking your chin into his hand, he leaned down and pressed a chaste kiss on your lips. You leaned up to meet him, rising slightly on your toes and wrapping your arms around his neck. The kiss was long and sweet, and you were both a bit breathless when you let go.

You smiled sweetly up at him and took his strong hand in yours. Standing on your tiptoes again, you pressed another soft kiss to his cheek.

“Merry Christmas.”

Masterlist

[haknew]

anon asked: I HAVE SONG RECS :DDD I tried not to do songs that you would have obviously heard before but a lot of the songs here are still popular but I couldn’t help but add them 😭

AHHHH thank you so so so so much for all the recommendations anon ! your taste is absolutely impeccable !!! i think i vibed with a lot of these maybe we are a bit similar ^~^ and no worries about your picks ! i totally support you and your incredible music taste no need to defend yourself :p ! popular songs can still be good ones ! thank you again and i tried ... to ... get through them all i’m so sorry JHGFDJHGDK you’ll see i get through like ... half and then ran out of energy T^T i’ll probably get back to this list some other time when i have free time and update with thoughts ! thank you for sending so many in ! i found so many new songs to add to my playlist heh thank you lovely ! 

Pop

cherry by rina sawayama - super cute ! i love these kinds of pop songs it’s right up my alley :o ! 

xs by rina sawayama - her voice is so well suited for this style ! i watched the mv and djkfhskgrjf HHH idk she gives me mitski vibes even tho their music is pretty different, you have peaked my interest i’ll definitely look into more of her stuff :o !

comme de garçons by rina sawayama - the bass line T^T !!! the talk-y (?) parts are so good i got chills, it’s like a rave song low key haha :p ! it’s so good ! 

Any song by Rina Sawayama 😭 - yes yes i’ll try to look more into her stuff ! 

Kpop

123 by nct dream - i’m only an honorary guest of ncity but one of my irls ults them ! and dream’s music has always been a bit more my speed :o ! this has more nostalgic kpop vibes to it ! i said this before but i really am more a pop person at heart and this is so good ^~^ 

Up to you by pretty much and nct dream (HAECHANS PART HHHHH) - oooh are you a haechan stan 0v0 i like jaemin tho i admit my knowledge of dream is limited (my fren ults renjun heh) also yes yes consent is very important kids u.u dskjghkdfj YOU’RE RIGHT THO haechan is a singer he SINGS, i love the vocal harmonies ! 

Oasis by crush ft zico - those electric keyboard synths (?) amazing ! this song bops u.u 

Moon by everglow - !!! i actually have heard this a lot before ^~^ i got so excited when i saw this bc it’s so good ! it’s definitely one of my fav everglow songs too i think i overplayed it a lot when it first came out *v* 

Woowoo by dia - i love the ocean wave sounds ! that’s so cool i love how summery it is ! it kind of reminds me of loona too ! ggs are just >>> i love the fun and brighter pop songs so much 🥺

Secret garden by Oh My Girl - i’ve heard a few songs by omg ! and i really like a handful of them, secret garden kinda gives me early gfriend songs vibes too ! it’s so pretty ! i really love when songs utilize strings in their instrumentals too ! it’s a bit slower paced too which is really nice ^~^ 

Page by got7 - YEEEES okie actually maybe unpopular opinion but spinning top is one of my fav got7 albums ! i used to listen to the whole mini on repeat ! i actually used to ult got7 too for a few months heh ^^ BUT YEEES i love page ! got7 always have bangers love them so much 

Nekkoya by produce 48 - AHHHHH ANOTHER SONG I LOVE !!! i’m actually a wizone haha :p so i’ve seen produce 48 ! tho admittedly it probably contributes to my burning h*tred for mn*t and any survival shows ;;;; but i loved the title song so much ! i used to unironically play it on repeat djghskfj

Puzzle moon by gwsn - AHHHH YOUR TASTE !!! i also followed gwsn from debut and puzzle moon is so so so cute ! it’s such a bop too ! they have such fun and catchy songs ! 

Goblin by sulli - ahhh the xylophone chimes ! they make the song sound a bit haunting before the piano comes in ;;;; it really reflects the mv story so well i think ;;; and sulli’s voice is so beautiful ;;;; it’s got that characteristic background vocal harmonies that sm artists usually do and it’s just really beautiful ! 

What are you up to by kang daniel - today on can you tell jess is unfortunately a bg stan daniel’s songs have been so good :,)) i stopped following all the wanna ones closely after a while but ! he always surprises me ! his songs are such vibes u.u 

Best day ever by yeri and nct dream - the TRUMPETS YEEES it’s so upbeat and fun !!! the cheering is so cute i love it ! 

Hair in the air by yeri and nct dream - JAEMINNNNN !!!! I LOVE YERI SO MUCH PLEASE ! i love the vocal harmonies between her and the boys 🥺 it’s so cute T^T ! renjun’s a singer HE SINGS 

119 by nct dream - ah yes this is ncity brand u.u LOL they always have really filled chorus instrumentals and use a lot of vocals to fill up the space which i think is really cool and something i think immediately screams sm artist :0 ! i think renjun’s voice really sells this for me tho HIS VOICE IS AMAZING him and haechan yeees it’s a banger tho :,) 

Save me save you by wjsn - i love wjsn’s music so much ! it sounds so magic and ethereal and totally bops ! their voices are so beautiful too and work together so well and i think this song’s style really suits all the members’ voices so well too ! 

Loonatic by loona - YEEEEES loona are my ult gg ! and oec is probably my fav unit in terms of music ! i have spent many a day playing their whole discography ! haha :3 

Up by izone - MY GIRLS ! yes yes up is so cute ! i love it so much ! the choreo is so cute too ! i love izone please ;;;; 

N/s by stray kids - oh boy okie ;;;; i’m like not a good judge of a lot of hip hop / more rap heavy songs ;;;; bc i was classically trained as a singer in choir ;-; so i’m sorry i do not have much to say about this one ;;;; it slaps tho ! i probably wouldn’t listen to it normally if you hadn’t recommended it tho so ! good to listen to smth outside of my normal preferences  

Sunshine by straykids - OH very very different from the last skz song KJHGKFJHKD yea this is probably more my speed i’m so sorry LOL T-T it’s so good tho :o ! i don’t listen to a lot of skz bc i figured i wouldn’t be able to vibe with them but this one is so good i really like it ! skz and ateez man i’ve been trying to stan for ages but music is a big part of why i stan /stan/ certain groups more seriously and it’s also why i’m only honorary nctzen lol clearly i have been enlightened (literally *looks at my past ult groups* yeaaaa)

Blueprint by stray kids - YEEES IT’S SO UPBEAT ! i love upbeat and brighter songs (i am consistent like this T-T) it’s got summery tropical vibes to it too ! it’s so cute ! 

Question by stray kids - another banger yeeeees ! i vibe with the lyrics too u.u love that 

Any mixtape by stray kids (but I really love 1 and 4) - oooh i still have a lot to get through so i’ll save these for my own time haha ^^ 

I’m your girl by khan

Revolution by Alexa

Secret by wjsn

I wanna be by key and soyeon

Handle it by twice

Teenager by got7 

Take by jus2 (CANNOT RECOMMEND THIS ENOUGH)

Bump bump by woodz

Stylish by loona - this is one of my fav loona b sides yeeees !!!! love them so much ! 

Outta my head by somi

Jpop

showersnow by orbit

show off by orbit

crazy love by orbit

any orbit song ngl 😭

poison girl by nanaka suwa

lost umbrella (I like the tsukishima kei version cause it sounds like lee know :DDD)

Notice by moe shop

Kawaki wo ameku (domestic girlfriend opening)

The day by porno graffiti (my hero academia opening 1)

Odd future by uverworld (my hero academia opening 4)

Again by yui (full metal alchemist brotherhood opening 1)

More English music

Luxury by azalea banks (Ive heard she’s said some terrible things tho 😭 WHY DOES IT SLAP)

Hurricane by Bridget Mendler (I miss this song and ready or not too 😭)

Little dark age by mgmt

I got a couple one direction recs bear with me here 💀

Happily, Magic, AM, 18, Tell Me a Lie, Through The Dark, Wolves, Night Changes, Better Than Words

Hip-hop/rnb

Leaked by lil tjay

Pretty little fears by 6lack and j cole

Water by joe gifted

The London by young thug

Bands by shoreline mafia

Swervin by a boogie wit a hoodie

Father stretch my hands pt 1 by Kanye west

More English music (indila is French)

Northern lights by kennie

I am not a robot by marina

Tourner dans le vide by indila

Parle a ta tete by indila

Greek tragedy by the wombats

Viva la vida by Coldplay (SHHHHH DONT ROAST ME)

La da dee by Cody Simpson (SHH IT MAKES ME HAPPY 😭)

Move your body by loving caliber and anders lystell (this ones good to make u feel like an early 2010’s movie protagonist :D)

Mariposa by Peach tree rascals

Sunflower by post Malone and swae lee (like many songs on here it’s popular but I still wanna put it here cause they make me happy 😭)

I got really carried away sorry I hope you haven’t heard too many of these 😭😭 OKAY BYEEE ❤️

[tfw-no-tennis]

mtmte liveblog issue 15

death awaits!

oh god the cover. I aint ready 

the cover of overlords open mouth w/rodimus floating inside or w/e,,,,the overlord mouth fixation continues i see

and of COURSE its by nick roche. of course

oh god the tension and dread in the first page, as we get overlords sinister promise to murder everyone, starting with rewind, and then seeing chromedome rush over to open the door, and knowing that 30 minutes have passed already...

that full page spread of everyone vs overlord is amazing

also I always thought that ambulon was trying to kick overlord but now that I look closer he’s actually jumping away from overlord, having just crashed one of those hover...thingys....into him...which is honestly cool as hell. also I'm never over the fact that ambulon kinda looks like he’s smiling here, just having a grand ole time as overlord tries his best to murder everyone

and chromedome just seeing this and saying ‘rewind?’ is fucking killing me thanks

PIPES NO DONT DO THIS. YOURE JUST RUBBING SALT IN THE WOUND. PLEASE don't talk about how much fun you're having on your wacky space adventure oh god, that’s just asking to be murdered,

GOD AND THERE HE GOES, DRIVING TO HIS DOOM. PIPES NO

AUGHHHHHHHHHH AND THERES OVERLORD WITH HIS GIANT FOOT. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

PIIIIIPES ;_; 

his messed up goodbye thoughts are brutal...plus the final shot of him laying all busted up....god :( 

that guy seriously had some awful luck this trip. rip lil guy

BUT he sounded the alarm!!! so good for him!! that's a pretty amazing final act right there

oh my god I forgot abt this scene where rewind is like ‘so brainstorm why is my husband saying your name in his sleep :))))’ and brainstorm is like ‘haha idk its certainly not because we’re working on a secret project together, so jot that down!’ lmao brainstorm....

also dw rewind brainstorm is not fucking ur husband, just look at his evidentially extensive collection of perceptor-style microscopes...my man is microscopesexual 

I forgot abt the metabomb omfg

‘some of my favorite words are monosyllabic’ rodimus ily, himbo of my heart,

fort max :( rung :( 

oughhghghg I forgot abt the scene of tailgate making cyclonus a new horn ;_; and then cyclonus materializes menacingly bc tg dared to volunteer their room for movie night hvbfshdjkfbaskj cyclonus anti-social icon

AUGHHHH GOD THE PANEL OF RATCHET TALKING ON THE COMMS AND OVERLORD IS JUST, RIGHT BEHIND HIM, WITH HIS BIG STUPID LIPS, OH MY GOD

what the fuck, is drift a flying car??? hello??? what the hell????

seriously he’s got like, rockets and shit, what the fuck

anyways, the entire exchange b/w ratchet and drift here kills me, for multiple reasons.... ‘my faith and my sword’ lmao love it. and then ratchet refusing to leave drift and calling him his friend ;_; aughhh

rodimus w/the squad like ‘lets go gays!!!’ 

also I guess cosmos WAS on the lost light lol, totally didn't remember that, I'm guessing he left at some point to go be in the other series lmao 

I'm sorry but ‘amazing. you speak entirely in name’ is so fucking funny, but also like stfu overlord you're not allowed to be funny

MAGNUSSSSSSSS

now I'm confusing myself lmao, rodimus DID know abt overlord, didn't he??? wasn't that the whole thing???? I don't remember if he was involved w/the whole mnemosurgery plan but he at least knew that overlord was there...but we haven't been told that in-story yet so now I'm questioning that lmao

oh god I forgot that overlord almost kills magnus, jeeeeesus. good thing he’s a russian nesting doll otherwise he probably would've died fr 

also damn that's gotta be scary for everyone else, bc magnus is The Big Guy, and a renown fighter...plus drift got all fucked up...yall are in for a bad time 

tailgate gettin his panic on I see

swerve w/the meta narration lmao 

cyclonus ily sm.......

rodimus charging at overlord....ohhh my boy not your best idea

cd and rewind both saying ‘I thought you were dead!’ HHHHHHHH I'm destroyed fuck it all

rodimus (inadvertently) saving the day by saying ‘til all are one’...iconic!!

FORT MAX IS HEREEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

drift just casually chillin w/no legs

chromedome going into extreme detail about all the mnemosurgery he’s been doing on overlord for WEEKS while rewind is Right There....my dude.

this issue has a LOT of completely white backgrounds but I cant even rlly blame milne bc this seems like more drawing work than usual

oh god cd don't say ‘we’ll finish this conversation later’ at a time like this, that’s never a good idea,

rewind no don't do it :( :( :( 

that panel of cd’s arm getting cut off...AUGHHH

GODDDDDDD IM FUCKING CRYING. AUGHHHHHHHHHHH I.....

so incredibly fucked that cd does what’s best for rewind by blowing the pod up....hhhhh god 

and then that last panel of cd laying on the ground....fucking destroy me!!!!!!!!

also I love that at the beginning of the issue we see whirl with the missile launcher thing, and that’s what cd uses at the end here....good bookends. jro is really great about putting stuff in the story that just seems like innocuous filler/fun character building but turns out to ALSO be plot relevant later

HOLY SHIT I forgot about the cast page with the big red X’s thru the dead people’s profiles....jesus christ 

AUGH this issue was a rollercoaster, phew...and the emotionally devastating conclusion to this arc is still yet to come! 

I will say that it’s super interesting looking back on this, in the sense that rewind & chromedome are introduced as the first ever gay tf couple, and a few issues after we get told this explicitly, rewind is killed. this doesn't really end up being an issue representation-wise bc literally everyone is gay and there are a bunch of other significant gay characters/relationships later on, AND rewind comes back later 

but still! it’s interesting to think about how, at the time this came out, the phrase/concept ‘bury your gays’ wasn't really something that was talked about a lot (or like, it was, but not as often as nowadays, and not really under the term ‘bury your gays’ iirc), but at the time of publication this would have fallen under that trope (though rewind coming back later negates it imo). I think it would've been tough for this story to come out nowadays due to the backlash that would've occurred from rewind’s initial death (it also makes me wonder if there was any backlash when this DID come out) 

to be clear, this isn't a writing criticism - in fact, the reason this is able to work at all is because of the crazy amount of representation mtmte has. it’s like, youre able to kill off gay characters without it being ‘bury your gays’ if literally all your characters are gay by default, and there are a bunch of significant gay relationships happening - technically speaking, any death in mtmte is bury your gays lmao 

this is a completely disjointed rant but my point is like, if this issue came out in 2020 people would probably be pretty put off by rewind dying (understandably), but in the context of the series as a whole I don't consider this to be bad writing/bad representation/bury your gays 

and like, WERE people really mad about this in 2013? I am curious now, bc I would definitely feel kinda betrayed if I didn't know all the stuff that happens later 

but its pretty nice, because now I'm free to enjoy the writing and be emotionally devastated by rewinds death in a normal way, and not a ‘I'm angry at the writers for killing off one of the only gay characters’ kinda way

anyways I'm tired as hell so I'm going to bed, ill continue the emotional devastation later, phew

[trade-baby-blues]

Feint

Pairing: Bones x Reader

Word Count: 1934

Warnings: minor swearing

A/N: Based on a request by an anon! The title is a pun bc the reader faints but also because reader and Bones have kind of rude attitudes to each other so it’s a little like feinting (and also I’m super tired so maybe it’s only funny to me lol). Hope you enjoy!!

Nervous was the best way to describe how you felt around Leonard McCoy. The strong jaw, piercing gaze, terrifying medical equipment -it was a mental recipe for disaster, sending you into a panic every time you were near him. Unfortunately, your fight or flight response was biased to fighting (too many years with Jim, Bones always said) and you came off rude every time you spoke with him.

Bones, for the life of him, couldn’t figure out what he’d done wrong. He’d been smitten from the moment you first got wheeled into Medbay. You and Jim had gone on an away mission and decided to race to the bottom of a hill. In a spark of what you called genius, you grabbed an emergency inflatable raft from the transport ship. Needless to say, neither of you realized the hill ended abruptly in a shallow cliff, and you tumbled out of the raft onto the quarry floor below. Luckily for Jim, you broke his fall. The whole ordeal was so stupid it actually endeared you to Bones as you explained it.

The scoldings, on the other hand, were much less endearing. They became more frequent and more intense as Bones fell harder for you. While he was glad to see you so often, he hated seeing you injured in whatever idiotic shenanigan you and Jim had gotten yourselves into this time. It was a waste of his time and yours.

“Can you believe it,” you shouted to Jim, who was in the shower, while you hung upside down from the side of his bed. “He said I was ‘wasting his time.’”

The water shut off. “Yelling is just how Bones shows he cares,” Jim called from the bathroom.

You scoffed. “Then I’m surprised he hasn’t proposed by now. He yells at me for everything. God, did I tell you that he yelled at me for taking a nap in the conference room chair yesterday? Said it was ‘ruining my posture’ and he wouldn’t help me when I started having back problems.”

Jim poked his head out from the bathroom, wet hair sticking up at odd angles. “You took a nap in the conference room yesterday? Weren’t you on shift?”

“Yes, but that’s not the point Jim. The point is Bones has a stick up his ass the size of Georgia and -.”

“And I think that’s enough,” Jim said ducking back into the bathroom before emerging with a towel draped around his waist. “I love a good shit-talk, but Bones is my friend, too. I don’t wanna get in the middle of whatever this is. It’s weird.”

“So is seeing you walking around in a towel, but that hasn’t stopped you.”

Jim turned around on his way to his closet. “Because it’s my room. Trust me, I would prefer to be naked.”

“Aw, thanks for saving me the nightmares.”  

“Get out,” Jim laughed. You acquiesced, bouncing up from the bed so fast you felt a little dizzy. You brushed it off and made your way back to work.

Bones slammed his breakfast tray down on the table. Stabbed his food. Chomped as if his teeth were grinding down rocks instead of pancakes. Jim watched, bagel halfway in his mouth, before dropping it back to his plate with a sigh. “What’s got your eyebrow twitching today, Bones?”

“Nothing.” He stabbed his food again. Stab. Chomp. Stab. Chomp.

“You sure about-”

“I just don't understand what I did wrong,” Bones cut in. “I've gone out of my way to ensure Y/N gets the best treatment and knows how to take care of herself after whatever stupid shenanigans the two of you have gotten into and she acts like I’m some dictator trying to control her life when all I’m doing is trying to show her I care, you know?” Jim nodded along, trying to respond but being cut off again before he could say anything. “I’ll be damned. That’s the problem, isn’t it? I care about her so much I’ve been smothering her. I’ve got to find her.” Bones shoveled the last few mouthfuls of food into his mouth before practically sprinting out of the mess hall.

Jim stared at the empty space in front of him and sighed. “Thanks for the talk, Jim,” he muttered to himself. “You’re a great listener and a great captain. You’re the best, Jim.”

You threw your wrench to the ground, sending it clattering across the engine room floor. Sweat felt like a permanent accessory on your skin, and you weren’t sure which was louder: the roaring of machines or the roaring of your own heartbeat. When had you gotten so out of shape?

“Maybe it really is time for a physical,” you told yourself as you clambered back down to collect your tools for the day. The floor seemed to shift as you bent forward, barely managing to catch yourself before your face hit the metal floor beneath you. “Hm. Weird and not at all terrifying,” you whispered, keeping your hands and knees firmly planted as you waited for the dizziness to fade. “Probably dehydrated, which would also explain why I’m talking to a wrench.” You pressed your forehead against the floor, hoping the coolness of the metal would help abate the heat and lightheadedness plaguing your body.

The noise around you grew quieter as you focused on your breathing, on the solid ground beneath you, on anything but the overwhelming pounding in your chest. You came to realize your body wasn’t hot - your chest was. It felt like your heart was ready to burst out of it, pumping as if you’d run a marathon rather than climbed a ladder. You fought past the ever encroaching whiteness at the edge of your vision to fish through your toolkit for your Comm, hoping to reach Scotty or Jim or anyone and tell them where you were, but you could feel your arms get heavier with each move you made. Your fingers wrapped around the Comm like a life raft as you slipped past the edge of consciousness.

Bones tried to pretend like it didn’t upset him that you were avoiding his calls, but he’d always been one to wear his emotions on his sleeve, and right now his sleeves were pushed to his elbows, crushed and wrinkled, as he buried himself in paperwork to forget about the messages he’d sent you hours ago. Of course, he’d wanted to confess his feelings in person, but, when he couldn’t find you, Bones had to settle for a Comm call. When you didn’t respond, he was forced to settle for a bottle of whiskey and the realization that maybe you simply hated him after all. It was all the same. He’d gotten used to being alone.

That didn’t stop him from jumping from his seat the second his Communicator started ringing. He tried to remind himself that he was an adult, but the mix of alcohol and nerves made Bones damn near drop the Comm half a dozen times before he finally answered.

“Hello.” Bones made a note to not sound so breathless. There was no answer. “Anyone there?” There was a buzzing of machinery in the background but no voice, no sounds of movement. Bones pondered his next move before hanging up and dialing your Comm. It rang and rang but you didn’t pick up. Bones shifted gears and called Jim, asking him to call you before Jim could get a word in. Then, he paced impatiently around his office waiting for Jim to call him back.

“Did she pick up,” Bones started as soon as he answered the call.

“You know,” Jim said, “I am the captain of this ship. I have a job to do. Responsibilities. Plus, I’m technically your boss, so you shouldn’t be so rude to me.”

“Damn it, Jim, I think something might be seriously wrong with Y/N. Did she answer or not?”

“No, she -”

“Meet me down in Engineering.” Bones ended the call as quickly as it started, leaving Jim on the other end, staring into deep space wondering if his being captian meant anything to anyone besides himself.

Everything was bright. Everything was loud. The cotton sheets scratched at your skin, but you were unable to move. Your limbs were lead. Your eyelids like cathedral doors you had to pry open. You tried to focus on the face hovering above you.

“Is that you God? Odin? That cute delivery guy who brought us pizza on our last shore leave?” Your voice came out muddled, but Jim’s laughter hit your ears crystal clear.

“Yeah, I’d say she’s gonna be just fine, Bones.” Jim clapped him on the shoulder.

Bones scoffed. “Just fine? She’s got a heart condition, Jim. There’s nothing fine about that.”

“Someone’s in a bad mood,” you mumbled as you pushed yourself up on the bed. “You’d think you’re the one who got diagnosed with a heart condition.” “As often as the two of you wind up in here, I’m surprised I don’t already have one. God, do you have any idea how dangerous it is to work under the conditions down in Engineering with an arrhythmia?”

You furrowed your brow. “Arrhythmia?”

“An irregular heartbeat.”

“That explains so much…” you whispered in response. Silence fell as Bones glared at you.

“How long have you been having symptoms?”

You avoided his gaze, staring at the hem of the sheet you were lying under. “I don’t know. Not super long. Maybe a couple weeks.”

“A couple weeks,” Bones yelled louder than he intended. He reigned himself in again. “You didn’t think it was something you should mention? I mean, the dizziness, the heart palpitations - they’re all pretty noticeable symptoms.”

“I’m not a doctor,” you said defensively. “I didn’t know what it was! I thought it was just because I have a stupid crush on you and I was nervous or something.” You clapped your hand over your mouth, eyes wide, heart racing again.

“This ain’t a romance novel, sugar,” Bones laughed, which made your cheeks redder than they already were. “Your heart’s not supposed to flutter.”

“Yeah, well I realize it’s not a romance novel or I wouldn’t be lying in a paper gown covered in dust and engine grease in front of a smoking hot doctor.” You crossed your arms over your chest, sinking back into the pillow and wishing, more than anything, that you could sink through the bed and drift off through space to a planet a few systems away from here.

“I like a girl who’s not afraid to get dirty,” Bones teased.

“Aaaaand that’s my cue to leave,” Jim interrupted. “You crazy kids have fun.”

You watched Jim go, hoping he could feel your eyes on his back begging him to stay or at the very least smother you with your own pillow. Either would do. Sadly, he kept walking, leaving you with Bones and a heavy silence as you were both reduced to grade schoolers tugging nervously at your shirt sleeves.

“So,” you started. “Are you gonna...take care of my heart?” You cringed at how cheesy that sounded. “No, that’s. I’m sorry. Can you fix it?”

Bones couldn’t help but laugh. He’d never seen you nervous before. It was a cute look on you. “I’ll take good care of you, doll.” Bones pressed his hand over yours and everything clicked into place. The tornado of thoughts whirring around your brain finally calmed as you focused on the pressure, the warmth of Bones’ hand over yours. It was a feeling you wanted to hold onto forever.

Tags: 

@outside-the-government @martinawalker @thevalesofanduin @goingknowherewastaken @thefanficfaerie  @feelmyroarrrr @brooke-taylor0323 @slither-in-a-half @cuddlememerrick @8bit-arc-reactor @jimtkirkisabitch @sjlovestory @kristaparadowski

[noscorpsaladerive]

All right LRA Korea Write Up Part Two aka I have now seen this version of this musical five times on y go moflos

Okay this is going to be organized into general notes then by actor then stagedooring because my notes are a mess so that’s how it’s gonna go down

Also warning I wrote this on an airplane after very little sleep so it’s gonna be loopy alright let’s go

Details I hadn’t noticed the first time we saw it: During A l’enfant, all of the actors in Morgane’s play are women, which to me makes sense given her backstory so that was a cool detail.  On the screen behind them they have shadow puppets acting out the story too which was also a cool detail.

For Tu vas le payer, they did keep a bit of the gender bending happening like everyone was wearing these overskirt things so I appreciated that nod to the original production.

Fave staging ever goes to Délivre nous like hot damn.  Not only does Arthur walk among the people, but for the last verse and chorus Arthur is center stage in a white spotlight while everyone is gathered around the edges of it and they’re reaching for him and act as if they’re banging on a glass wall trying to get his attention and it’s so freaking good and brillant y’all

Okay now for stuff by actor starting with the Arthurs:

Han Ji Sang !!!!!  My dude!!!!  We only saw him the one time but I still LOVE his transition from boyish squire to grown ass man king.  His curtain call bopping is also my fave.  I think my fave thing was how he responded to the people (as in Arthur’s subjects), like it really seemed like it was coming from someone who used to be one of them but now finds himself in a position of power over them

Pretty Arthur aka Hoonjeong:  his was the most reserved Arthur??  Like his singing was so lovely and he did act it very well but in a lot of ways he was more timid but not necessarily in a bad way.  He just was a more reserved Arthur.

Noodle Arthur aka Seungjo:  MY NOODLE ARTHUR HAS RETURNED FROM WAR!!!!!! His performance reminded me the most of Flo’s (not DVD Flo but live Flo) but Seungjo took the noodle like fifty steps further and it was BEAUTIFUL. Like he and Kay are in shenanigans together from the beginning and he’s hugging Kay a lot and he’s so damn cute y’all. Seungjo is a very like physical actor???  He would grab Merlin’s staff (wow that sounds like a bad innuendo I’m sorry i’m tired y’all) and would bang it in the ground to establish authority like right before going after Méléagant and Seungjo would grab Merlin’s cloak when he was unsure or angry and oh my god this dude with Guenièvre. Oh my god.  During Rêver l’impossible he’s like adjusting his clothes and running his hands through his hair because he’s gotta look good for the beautiful woman and when he finally speaks to her he’s on his knees like he doesn’t think he’s worthy of her or like he’s in awe of her and when he starts to head off with Merlin but Guenièvre’s like “Mais le roi est fatigué” this noodle just does a 360 around Merlin and he’s so smiley and cute and at one point during quelque chose de magique Guenièvre dances with the ladies then Arthur does a lil dance with the boys and while Guenièvre’s dancing Seungjo claps and waves at the boys to get their attention like “come on we gotta dance to impress!!!”  Also Seungjo gets really into the kissing like not just on the mouth (although he does smooch a lot more than the other Arthurs) but he kisses Guenièvre’s hands and is constantly whispering and giggling with her in the background of scenes it’s so damn cute y’all. 

But like for act two he’s all serious and the physical element of his acting is still there but it’s never comical in a bad way just either cute or heightening the emotion of a scene.  Like during Ce que la vie a fait de moi Arthur and Guenièvre go down the line of wedding guests to greet them and Seungjo hugs Kay and bounces up and down with him and when Léodagant gets down to bow to Arthur Seungjo gets on his knees and makes his father in law stand back up and ugh i love it ;lakdjf;ladksjfsa;dkl.  Oh omg when Gauvain is training him Seungjo’s like ugh come on give it a break then he’s like oh hey what’s over there? Then he attacks Gauvain and it’s so cute ;lakdjf;adslkjfsdk. Also Seungjo had the best “cette femme est ma femme et c’est la reine!!” Like the other Arthurs didn’t emphasize it that much but he really did and ugh i love him.  Seungjo was also on the floor a lot whenever Arthur was stressed which is a Mood but it also makes me want to protect him.  Like his face after Tu vas le payer he looked so scared and confused I wanted to run up on stage and just like wrap him in a blanket or something.  Like Seungjo’s voice is beautiful but it’s not vocally my fave but his acting is what really pushed him to the top of my Arthur list.

Okay so for the Morganes:

Soojin!!!!!!! I’m love!!!!!!  She did a great job of making Morgane evil but you still want to pity her and vocally she’s incredible and just w o w

Lisa overall was almost as good as Soojin in my opinion.  Her voice is gorgeous and especially the last time we saw it she was sooooo into it and having fun but she makes a couple of choices that I just can’t get on board with like at one point during Dors Morgane dors she like goes for a high note but it comes out like a screech?????  Not a huge fan.  The way she acts her final scene too just didn’t quite make sense to me either but still I’m overall a fan of her.

The Guenièvres:

Miyeon was having such an off night the first time we saw her bless her heart but the second time I really loved her????  She has a pretty deep voice which I love and she was like crying during Auprès d’un autre???? Like wow way to tug on my heart strings.

Jisoo was a good Guenièvre!!  Like she has an absolutely lovely voice but I can’t think of anything like super spectacular but I did really enjoy her performance.  Her L’amour quel idiot reprise was more heartbreaking like she’s almost ugly crying and it was so freaking sad :((((

The Lancelots:

Niel was better than we were expecting!!  I think this is his first musical and he did so well!!!  He did some almost growl like things in Wake Up which sounds weird but it worked really well.  He was maybe my least fave if I had to rank them because the poor boy has such a nasal voice which is just how his voice is but that’s also not my fave thing in the world rip.  Something I really loved was during Faire comme si he catches Guenièvre’s arm and holds her hand for a second (which all the Lancelots do) but he holds his hand there after she lets go for a second as if he can’t believe he got to touch her.  He’s also the only one who tries to kiss Guenièvre as he’s dying but their lips don’t quite touch sad emojis

Giant Lancelot aka Byeonggeun:  Holy shit this boy is big.  Like he’s so tall???? And so broad?????  We only saw him once so we don’t remember too much bless his heart.  I liked him though!!

Pretty Lancelot aka Jihoo aka my actual son:  First time we saw him i LOVED his voice but he had some volume control issues??? We weren’t sure if that was the mic or him but the second time I kept saying in my head “ça c’est mon fils!!!!!!!”  Vocally he is by far my favorite and I just adore him he’s my son now

Now the Méléagants:

Chungjoo:  We saw him the last time we saw the show and I really like him as a performer but not as Méléagant. His second act was better than his first but his high range isn’t quite there for me personally but holy fuck his lower range is absolutely gorgeous and I want him to play Jack in Jack the Ripper oh my god.  Acting wise he was good, he played Méléagant unhinged from the beginning instead of just for act two like the others.  He was also very touchy feely with Guenièvre during Nos corps à la dérive (not in a weird way, just in a grab shoulders and face way) whereas the other two were almost too scared to touch her, which like neither choice is good or bad it’s just different

Pretty-agant aka Chanho:  first of all his eyebrows?????? Amazing.  Second of all his voice????? Even more amazing.  His high notes sounded so easy and he was so damn into it like he did the Un Nouveau Départ body rolls and the Mon Combat hip sway (which the others did not do) and something we loved after seeing him was his act one at first seemed a lil boring???? Like his voice was too clean???? But his second act he was becoming more unhinged and his voice rougher so it wasn’t boring it was just acting.  But he was just so damn good oh my god and his performance reminded me the most of Fabien’s which isn’t necessarily good or bad it’s just a thing.  Something that I loved that Chanho did was he reached for things??? Like after he couldn’t pull out Excalibur he held his hands out like “i almost had it” then he reached for it again and as he was leaving the stage after Un Nouveau Départ when Au diable is starting Chanho reaches for Guenièvre and I love

Lucheni-agant aka Hongseok:  I love him so much I just ;alkdjfa;ldkjfd. Like honestly his high notes weren’t as good as Chanho’s but it still worked and it wasn’t screechy which is good and I just adore him he’s so nice ;lakdjf;alkdjfa. Like idk how to explain it but his Méléagant is just so captivating for me???? Like I already mentioned this but when he has Excalibur after Arthur hands it to him there was really such a strong sense of oh shit what’s gonna happen.  It was also super fun seeing him as Méléagant after seeing him as Lucheni.

Omg I almost forgot the second time we saw Hongseok as Méléagant there was a Mishap.  So before Mon combat Morgane explains the kidnapping plan to Méléagant and Leia is supposed to attach Lancelot’s cape around his neck.  Except the cape clasp didn’t stick, and Hongseok couldn’t get it to clasp.  He threw it away at one point then picked it back up and tried to sling it over his shoulder but it kept falling off and finally he was able to throw it offstage but it was funny bc during the kidnapping scene itself after he reveals his identity Hongseok just ripped the cape off entirely and didn’t just take the hood off he looked so done with that cape ;aldkfjadklsjf

Okay now stagedoor times!!

We stagedoored for Seungjo twice, and the first time there were sooooo many people there for him and he looked so small and overwhelmed and mildly alarmed like he didn’t know what to do with all these people????  He kept smelling the flowers people gave him and he was so quiet and shy then he almost couldn’t get out because the fansites were almost in the way ;aldkjfds

The second time he was way more prepared and people kept going up to him in front of everyone and giving him gifts and Vanessa was like “come here!!” And I thought she meant to the end of the line so I could see because short but nope she meant in front of everyone but I stayed back because shy and I can’t speak Korean but she went up and gave Seungjo some Reese’s and said that we’d seen the show in France a lot and he’s the best Arthur and he laughed like he couldn’t believe but his laugh was so beautiful and he’s such a cutie I love him and will protect him.  He also posted a pic of his gifts from that night and you can see Vanessa’s Reese’s and he also used #thanks in English for the first time which we’re choosing to believe is bc of us/mostly Vanessa

We stagedoored for Hongseok three times, twice at King Arthur and once at Elisabeth which I’m gonna write about here lol.  The first time Vanessa told him how many times I’d seen the show in france and he looked concerned??? Impressed???? Idk but he took that to mean I was French lol but he makes the best face in pics with fans I love it.  We told him we were seeing him as Lucheni that weekend which seemed to just confuse him ;alkdjfa;ldkjfasd Next when we saw him after his last show in Elisabeth (which I’m not exaggerating when I say I would sell my soul to see him as Lucheni again) he remembered us and was like “American and French right??” But Vanessa told him I’m American and I’d just lived in France.  All of his other fans were very impressed with Vanessa’s height lol.  We also got to see his wife and new baby and they were all so cute!!!  Hongseok also brought rice cakes to his fan club which was so sweet.

Third time was after King Arthur again which that theater’s stagedoor is actually in the first floor lobby by the bathrooms so people usually stagedoor in the lobby or in front of the actual theater entrance on the second floor and you just linger until you see the person you’re waiting for but as soon as Hongseok came out that night he headed straight for me and Vanessa because he knew exactly who we were there for lol.  Vanessa told him he’s amazing again in Korean then he was like “I can speak a little English” and Vanessa was like “wanna practice??”  And he was like “Practice? Sure!” With a little bit of an oh shit what did I get myself into face but dude you were the one who pulled out the English not us lol.  So we mostly just squealed about how awesome he is and I was just like “I’ve seen this show so much and you’re my favorite” and we got a selfie again then after the other fans talked to him Vanessa told him we were going back home and we wouldn’t see him again so he went to shake our hands but Vanessa is brave and was like “Could we get hugs?” So he hugged us and his sweater was very soft and he’s just so sweet and I wanna go see him in more shows because he’s such a great performer ;lakdjf;lakdjfad

Anyways long story short I love and miss this show so much and if you’re going to Seoul while it’s still running PLEASE go see it!!!!

[ldarchive]

all or some of: 10, 18, 19, 20, 25, 28, 30, 35, 36, 39, 40, 41, 42 for the ask meme =) lay all the ari facts on me

ty indigo ilu… shepardposting no limits (HOPEFULLY THE READMORE WORKS?)

10. What kind of friend is Shepard?

the “will give you shit but also go to the ends of the earth” for you type i suppose…he shows his affection thru gentle bullying. he can also be kind of genuinely an overbearing asshole at times, but he gets better with it; it takes him a while to, uh, adjust to having “friends” in the first place. he’s a dad friend if your dad is kind of a grumpy punk with a rude and morbid sense of humor

18. Share a headcanon about Shepard and their LI.

[struggling to come up with something i haven’t talked about a million times] uhhhhhh

kaidan wanted to propose with one of his dad’s old rings but he figured out it wouldn’t fit ari’s finger, so (with his mother’s blessing/assurance that his dad would have been more than happy abt it, etc) he had the gold melted down to make a new ring. in my mind it looks smth like this and yes ari totally cried a little

it also took kaidan weeks of near-misses to work up the nerve to propose even tho he Knew ari was gonna say yes, he was just really worried about getting it right. eventually he just did it on their balcony and ari got surprised and dropped his cigarette and kaidan got a cool new engagement burn scar on his arm but it was nice

19. Why did they fall for each other?

ari fell for kaidan bc he’s not just intelligent, but perceptive; he’s a realist who errs toward optimism and making the best of bad situations; he believes people can and should be better; he has a surprisingly understated sense of humor; he can keep up with ari’s teasing; ari asks him if he’s a romantic and he denies it and then gives, like, the most romantic answer in the world. he’s cute.

kaidan fell for ari bc……. he has big arm. ok but uh i think it’s because he’s, pretty practical and matter of fact and doesn’t care all that much about the social trappings that kaidan continually tortures himself with… he makes kaidan feel Seen and Understood but doesn’t make a big dramatic deal out of everything kaidan tells him, he just treats him… like a person. for someone who’s been living with & defining themselves by their issues for as long as kaidan has, it’s pretty incredible to find someone who just makes him feel like a human being again

20. What are their common interests or hobbies?

a lot of their relationship is like, meeting each other in the middle haha, but there are some things they both enjoy a lot with no caveats:

- cooking! kaidan’s a foodie and it becomes ari’s therapy hobby after me3, so it’s smth they enjoy doing together a lot. they try to do it more often if possible, but their general friday night tradition is to come home, crack open a couple beers, and cook a big meal together

- they are both outdoorsy Adventure Dads… it takes a while before ari can handle more than a walk around the park but eventually he and kaidan can go hiking again and they both rly love it. i imagine theyd be into stuff like camping, swimming, kayaking, etc too dfjnfg

25. Is there something they fight about?

well, everyone gets into arguments occasionally, but i don’t really think they fight all that often… not that they agree on everything all the time, but they’ve both gotten pretty good at talking things out and also deciding whether or not something is even worth arguing about in the first place. when you are dating someone during the apocalypse and don’t have to any time to waste those are both pretty valuable skills haha [i think the most they ever fought in their relationship was post-me3, when ari got out of the hospital and they’d both started to ‘settle in’ to their new lives but it was a bumpy adjustment and they were both going thru a lot of trauma and stress and bottling it up etc. it wasnt a great time but they worked thru it]

28. What would they like to change about the other?

it’s a double-edged sword, bc it’s part of what attracts kaidan to him as well, but sometimes kaidan really wishes ari had more a self-preservation instinct!! sometimes his tendency to charge headfirst into trouble is sexy, sometimes kaidan is tired and sad and it just gets really old

ari wishes kaidan would loosen up a little although, again, the straight-laced military thing (unfortunately) kinda does it for him. he would also take away kaidans chronic pain if he could

30. When did they realise they fell in love?

fr kaidan it was shortly after virmire and it absolutely scared the shit out of him ahaha

ari is dumb so he didn’t really realize until after horizon, which was probably a bad way to figure that out,35. Is there anything they dislike about the other?

ari appreciates how thoughtful kaidan is but sometimes it’s like… a bit… much lmao, he’s not as navel gaze-y as kaidan is so sometimes the process of having to talk everything out gets tiring. for kaidan it’s kind of the opposite, he sometimes perceives ari’s lack of forethought as a lack of care, which isn’t really true, he just works differently

on a much pettier level, ari gets annoyed that kaidan wants to sleep in all the time and kaidan gets annoyed that ari drowns all his food in hot sauce. hello, i worked hard on that steak36. What are their best memories together?

advtykefd cheesy but i like to think they got to take a little bit of leave after me1 so… they rented a log cabin somewhere (not sure if they went back to earth or just a colony planet somewhere?), turned off non-emergency comms on their omnitools and just chilled for a bit… went hiking, had drinks at the tiny bar in the closest small town, holed up in the cabin all day and had sex lmao it was probably the most peaceful week of aris entire life and it left a big impression on him

ofc later there’s stuff like their wedding day, their son’s birth, adopting their daughter etc. kaidan would probably even say, with the emotional distance provided by time, that horizon counts cuz even tho it sucked at the time nothing could have been better than realizing ari was alive

40. Is there someone in the squad of ME/ME2/ME3 Shepard dislikes? Why?

MIRANDA LOL… they just. do not see to eye or get along at all. i find their relationship very entertaining for this reason bc the dynamic of commander & XO who are both trying to be professional but do not respect e/o even the tiniest bit is so funny. theres a convo w her in me2 (i think it might be the one where you can initiate her romance?) where if you choose the renegade dialogue is hilarious to me… miranda makes some snide, passive aggressive comment about shepard based on their background (it’s like “it’s amazing how you’ve managed to succeed despite being _____” lmao) and then shepard is like “OH i get it, you’re jealous bc i’ve been more successful than you and TIM likes me more even tho i’m a big piece of shit idiot?” i love it it’s so funny. they both suck. eventually they do build some kind of mutual respect btwn them but theyre still… not exactly friends. i think in me3 ari was like “damn i hope miranda’s ok” and then when he actually met her again remembered why he used to be so pissed at her all the time lmao. (after me3 tho she saves his life Again and they probably have a lot of time in the hospital to just talk so maybe they do become genuine friends)

41. Are there any important relationships in Shepard’s past that defined their character? /42. Is there someone who had a great influence on Shepard?

just gonna try to combine these i guess,

- his parents, although he only got an unfortunate short time with them, he takes after both of them a lot, and the things his parents imparted on him stuck with him, but especially as he gets older he’s also really aware of the mistakes they made

-the reds, in general. not a really positive influence lmao but. they were his home for years & he learned how the world works through them, for better or worse… it’s why he’s a bit of a cynic, although later he is able to characterize it more as “this shit sucks But we can make it better” rather than just “this shit sucks”

- anderson was the first person ari ever felt saw him as a human being, and it was… a slow-going thing to learn to trust him ahah, but wanting to be worthy of anderson’s approval shaped a lot of his career decisions

[idealisticrealism]

Blindspot 4x03

Had a busy Halloween week (my first ever!) so I’m extra late today. Also changed my format slightly bc what is consistency?

Reade-- What is there to say, other than he looks super cute covered in paint? It’s kinda weird that the usual ‘main team’ has barely been seen this whole ep-- and even then, mostly only through brief video calls or over the comms. And Reade wasn’t even heard from at all during the actual bomb disarming. Honestly though…. I’m kinda down with that. As much as I love the others, we all know Rich and Patterson are my Dream Team lol

Zapata-- yep there’s Zapata, jogging slowly away from her problems as usual lol. Seriously though what is she doing being apprenticed to a literal evil witch EXPLAIN GERO. Ugh I feel so bad for her but a little bit ‘serves you right’ at the same time. Though lbr I just want her to come homeeeee

Weller-- I feel like this dude has been on the edge of tears for like a year. Poor guy. But omg does he make a cuuuute Jackson Pollock lol. I love him being all serious and sarcastic towards Madeline while literally covered in paint and feathers. I feel like the real mystery of this ep is HOW DOES IT MAKE HIM HOTTER. Someone please explain. Also oooh he cannot be happy about being stuck in the station while ‘Jane’ is zooming away on a doomed train. ALSO SPEAKING OF WHICH, dude the bomb is on one of the lines past the apartment I lived in back in September. I got off at that station multiple times aaaahhhhhh this is so cool. Ugh now he’s back at the apartment crying over Jane again ahah. Seems like all the poor dude does these days is hug her and cry. But wait, maybe not! Ooooh he followed her and he has got his suspicion on. THERE’S the badass agent we’ve been missing!

Remi-- I feel like she actually feels a tiny bit bad that she made Weller cry?? Lol girl’s supposed to be killing him and she has a hard time even seeing him cry. Lbr she’s gonna fall for him despite herself, his mix of badass agent and suburban dad is apparently just irresistible to any iteration of her being lol. Tbh I loved the sequence of her disarming the bomb over the comms-- in most eps we would be with her and Weller and Reade out in the field and only hearing the home team over the comms, I loved seeing this turnabout. Also ugh she nearly lashes out at Weller when he lifts her hand bc she’s such an abused little puppy that she doesn’t know anything but coldness or punishment and I think she was startled and secretly pleased to be greeted with cheers and hailed as a hero. Ugh Remi honey you’re gonna grow to love it here. “... right under our noses, putting on a friendly face, pretending to be the hero” I guess she’s seeing some similarities between herself and Madeline lol. And then oooh on the couch, Roman’s like the devil on the shoulder trying to pull her back into the deep shadows of the dark side and then Weller appears and shines all his love and support all over her and Roman disappears for a moment. I see what you’re doing here Gero…. Also lol Remi must be surprised at how easily she can make Weller cry haha

Patterson-- okay firstly, how dare some guy make out with my baby and not know her name. Also, I just have mixed feelings about the making out in general but I am all about supporting my precious queen. THen I was like ‘pfft she won’t say her name’ and then SHE SAID HER NAME AND I SCREAMED and then it hit me that she was almost definitely undercover and I was like ‘oh a fake name of course, shit Gero you got me well done’ and then turns out it wasn’t an op but a whole different kind of ‘undercovers’ hahahahaha. Well good on you girl I support you and all your choices. BUT WAS IT A FAKE NAME OR NO??? Omg okay yes it was, thanks for the heart attack Gero. Is anyone else having early Grey’s Anatomy flashbacks rn lol or is that just me haha. Also flustered Patterson is the most adorable Patterson, fight me on it.Ugh poor girl cannot seem to catch a break this ep and you KNOW Rich is deliberately playing with her lol. But also I mean c’mon writers, Patterson is a professional agent, I can see her being flustered to start but let’s not act like she wouldn’t suck it up and focus on her job pretty quick. Also omg *dead serious voice* “I can already tell you, that I’m gonna scoff” is one of the best lines of the episode and probably the entire show lol. “Okay get to the part where you solved it. Oh my god I just sounded like Weller” hahaha well  he is your big bro, so makes sense you’d pick up a few traits lol. Great throwback to the ‘where math is done’ line too writers, nice work. Also wow the way she just went toe-to-toe with Weitz… why do I ship it a tiny bit lol?? And I also kinda ship her with Lincoln. Get it, girl!

Rich-- how was him being like ‘Hey guys here’s the terrorist’s address okay be careful bye’ one of the funniest things he’s ever done??? I stg whoever writes Rich needs to be my new best friend. Though tbh he does actually seem almost a touch subdued in this first scene, without that usual devilish gleam in his eyes… maybe he’s trying to show he can be both useful AND mature so they don’t actually decide to replace him with Boston haha. “I didn’t say magic, I’m not seven, I said magical cures’ hahahaha my baby. And he’s so excited to brief the recruits ugh. And then omg “sounds like the greatest takedown in FBI history I’m so sorry I missed it” aren’t we all, buddy lol. Also ugh him and his little recruit ducklings LET ME DIE. “There’s a bomber! Who bombs!” literally if someone who had Rich’s sense of humour and talked like he talks were to appear in my life I would marry them on the spot. “He’s probably an angry man with a victim complex, that’s a dangerous combination” OKAY EVERYONE LET’S FACE IT THE BOMBER GUYS CAN GO HOME BECAUSE RICH JUST DROPPED THE BIGGEST BOMB OF THE EPISODE RIGHT THERE. “Oh yeah, would an unprofessional do something like this??” The answer is yes and also marry me. And ugh he says his main reason for going after the book of secrets is because Jane is dying ughhhhh he is too good for this worldddd. Also wtf was that weird cackle when describing Roman that was hilarious. “It’s been very evident all day. Also I am like a sex-narc and you are terrible at lying” EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS MAN AND THIS FRIENDSHIP IS THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD. “It’s very unprofessional, I think that’s what thrills me the most actually” hahahahaha. “This is my smug face, I save it for special occasions” hahahaaha c’mon no he does not, that’s just his normal face but THIS is why I felt he seemed more serious than usual, it was so his face could be extra smug later hahahaha. And the victory dance??? “You and me, Ride or Die”?? Let’s be real I am SO ride or die for these two there is literally nothing more important than this friendship aaaaaaaahhhhhh

Weitz-- I love this sleazy bastard and his weird love/hate feelings towards Zapata and his semi-corrupt work ethic lol. Also omg yasss he told them all about Zapata leaking info to Carter! I wondered if that would ever come out. And omg he’s Patterson’s hookup’s uncle THIS EP IS RIDICULOUS AND I LOVE IT. Also oh no “What am I saying, special treatment’s fine” was hilarious, like uh oh no way am I starting to love Weitz??? I am having feelings about a Patterson/Rich/Weitz dream team haha. “Might be our only shot at [Madeline], so it is unfortunate that you look like that” how does this show do so many characters with their own distinctive styles of sass I love it so much. Also, show of hands, who thinks this guy is on some kind of uppers because honestly at this stage I’m convinced haha. He’s especially nuts when he comes in to give Patterson the special computer-- which I’m sure that a) she already would have had one of, and b) someone in his postion would have just had someone deliver for him. Although it does seem like he makes any excuse to come hang out and be bizarre. He’s the boss I wish I had lol. Especially if I happened to be related to him bc wow there is some unabashed nepotism happening right here haha. Oh dear he seems to be coming down off his high right now and is getting grumpy. Better call his assistant to bring his next hit lol. Also “CAN YOU JUST CHECK HIS WORK PLEASE” clearly withdrawing-Weitz has no time for workplace flirting hahahaha. And ugh then Patterson stands up to him and he listens to her and holy shit that was a big amount of trust, if they were wrong the whole city is gonna turn on him for letting so many more people die than was necessary. Looks like he doesn’t just always do what protects his own ass??

Afreen-- you are a queen and I love you

[parakeet]

Anyway storytime: So that one compilation post you made with a bunch of screencaps appeared on my dash and I had total mixed feelings. On the one hand there's that group mentality like "they're attacking a group and I'm a part of that group thus they're attacking me" but on the other hand it's like "ok but where's the lie?" (Like I've literally been on that server and left soon after) So I ended up going through way too many pages on your blog trying to basically evaluate your actual (1/2)

anons asks are pretty long so im gonna put them under a readmore down below!

first off, i’m glad that my ramblings helped you out. this stuff rlly doesn’t get enough consideration imo. theres so much positivity but very little actual critical talk, and when there is critical talk its almost always shut down as ‘aphobia’ which is a huge bummer. i’m glad it helped you confront some stuff you had been avoiding

it’s also worth mentioning that last night one of the mods on that said that i ‘claimed to be ace’. not that i was ace, but i claimed to be. which always makes me laugh, bc this is such a common thing! i’ve seen it through the years and even when i first joined the server ppl said similar things about ace ppl who were involved in ‘ace discourse’

whenever someone actually has something critical to say about the ace comm, they won’t listen to anyone who isn’t ace bc it’s ‘not their business’, but if that person actually IS ace, they say shit like ‘this person ~claims~ to be ace’ bc they actually cannot fathom the idea that an actual Ace Person has these Real Issues with the community. it’s pathetic. 

stance and whatnot, and honestly by now I think you're a pretty cool person. Like I think there's one thing you mocked that I actually disagree on (the one about what being ace was like - I think they were just trying to relate asexuality to the amount of attraction homosexual people feel to different genders or heterosexual people feel to same genders (which is none). But then that's also more of an issue with bad phrasing than bad ideas on their part, so it's not like we're ideologically (2/3)

different, just that we interpreted it differently, which is fine. Anyway, my point is just that I'm glad I found your blog because most of the time when I see content related to asexuality it's all "ace positivity" stuff and while most of it's all right, there definitely is a bunch of hypocrisy and other problematic behavior such as unrecognized homophobia/transphobia and a habit of labeling any dissention as toxic aphobia, and (3/4 okay seriously I was not expecting this to be this long lol)

honestly I think it's good for ace people to recognize that validating ace experiences doesn't excuse some of the stuff people are getting away with - anyway my ACTUAL point is that I've been surrounded by "ace positivity" so much that even though most of the stuff I see is non-problematic, the general environment of "you're being aphobic" has been getting to my head a little, so I'm glad I got to see your blog and step away from that bias and actually recognize the toxicity in my (4/5 jesus)

own community. Which I feel can be hard to do, especially since the ace community is still so small and new compared to the more prominent LGBT spaces - the idea of confronting and criticizing it can be scary, like "where do I go if my current space is problematic?" Well, fuck that. If that's my worry, then I can try to improve it. All communities started out with some sort of common ideological issues or assumptions, not just the ace one, but so many have (idek what # I'm at anymore, honestly)

gotten better because people confronted the shitty parts and worked to make things better. Just because there's a lot of shit on the ace discord (and most other platforms tbh) doesn't mean the future of the ace community has to be 100% shitty, you know? Anyway I feel like I went off on like 3 different tangents. I don't even know what my point was anymore. So thanks for putting up with all these asks, lol. Anyway, stay rad

Also, one more thing: It's also, like, the discourse ("are aces lgbt???). I've always tried to stay away from it, and I think that was at least partially because I always felt uncomfortable with a lot of the ace arguments and how much weight they put on relative non-issues. So I guess that's why I felt the need to put in this ask. Your blog made me start confronting stuff I usually avoid, and I think I'm the better for it?? So thanks :)

[allisquish]

stargazer chapter 4

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3

-

I just really enjoy trying to write Goldblum’s dialog, okay? He speaks so! Also more dancing around with bush with Yondu bc no one knows how to people. (There’s italics everywhere, I like italics)

-

Admittedly, there’s not much you actually know about implants. Some aliens seem to have them, with some races it’s more prevalent than others, and some just don’t. However, implants are a technology and if anyone trapped in this forsaken tower wants a piece of tech repaired, there’s only one person to ask.

Kameca.

You’re very happy with this news that the Xandarian girl has brought you; Kameca has agreed to meet with the Ravager and you. It’ll cost you, there’s always a steep price with this kind of thing, but it should be worth it. You don’t know what exactly Yondu’s implant is for; but judging by the implants you have seen in the past on Sakaar? It may be vital to survival.

“Whatchu talkin’ about, girl?” The Centaurian demands, reaching for the note in your hands. You let him take it, bouncing on the balls of your feet. There was going to be so much to plan. You’d have to be sneaky- can’t have others knowing what you both are up to.

“You think this person can fix mah fin?” Yondu asks, his eyes hard as he looks at you. There’s a vulnerability in them that he’s trying to mask, but you catch it. Huh. That’s… not what you expected from a space pirate. Then again, you didn’t really have much to go on. He certainly doesn’t act like a Captain Harlock or Han Solo.

Then again, maybe Yondu could give Solo a run for his money.

“Well, I hope so,” You reply, turning to the mess in your room. You need pen and paper, something to plan out this meeting to the finest detail. “She’s smart, and she’s got delicate fingers.” You start grabbing things off the floor, trying to put them away as you look.

“Look, girlie, I don’t need anyone tryin’ to mess wit’ it if they don’t know what they’re doin’.”

“Oh, no, believe me she does,” You pause, putting dresses back into the wardrobe, “Kameca’s race is tech-based. She never needs to see blueprints or anything. Sometimes all she needs is a good look or a touch and she can fix whatever you bring her.”

“Sounds too good to be true.” He grumbles, perching himself back on your bed.

“Yeeeeah,” You drag the sound out, sighing, “She tends to have pretty high prices.”

“Like what?”

“I mean, I haven’t had to deal with her directly,” You explain, putting the drawers back into the dresser, “But I went with Ruelyz to see her before. She had found a broken piece of tech from her homeworld, and Kameca had it fixed up in no time.”

“And wha’ did she want in return?”

“A pint of blood.” Yondu’s head snapped up, looking at you with wide eyes and furrowed brows. You know you must look just as disgusted as he is, “She, uh, Kameca said it made for good seasoning.” Before you can even blink, Yondu is across the room, grabbing hold of your wrist.

“I ain’t havin’ anyone like that anywhere near mah head, got that, girlie?” A powerful rage radiates from his whole being. You can see it and feel it; his muscles are bunched and tense, poised for fight or flight, yet the touch on your wrist is kept loose. Like he’s trying to hold back.

You hold both hands up, attempting to appease, “Okay, so we won’t go to her if you don’t want too. Do you know how to fix your… fin?”

He lets go, and steps back. Crossing his arms, Yondu smirks down at you. His crooked teeth actually glint in the light, “Why as a matter a fact, yes I do.”

You finally spy an old composition notebook on the floor. Snatching it and a pen, you hand both to Yondu. “Make a list, or whatever, and I’ll see what I can do.”

Which he does, fairly quickly, and then hands to you.

“…Dude, I can’t read this.” You look up at him, a frown tugging your lips down. Whatever they had done to you when you first arrived on Sakaar that allows you to understand all the languages of the various races here, do not include being able to read them. It wasn’t something you ever really need to do, so you tend to kinda… forget it.

Yondu heaves a large sigh, his eyes narrow and his lips pulled down. For a very blue, very alien individual, his face is certainly incredibly expressive. Very humanly expressive.

While you’re trying to shake those thoughts, Yondu turns to the low table and settles himself there. He scribbles something into the notebook, and you wait a beat, trying to see what it is. After about 5 minutes of waiting, he’s still working on whatever it is. Bored, you turn back to the mess of your room and work on finishing straightening it up.

“C’m’re, girl,” He waves you over just as you’re finishing cleaning his mess. You roll your eyes, biting back grumbles. Were all space captains like this?

You settled next to him on the floor, glancing at the paper spread across the table. They were definitely blue prints, the layout and schematics very similar to some of the things your aunt would bring home from work, but again, you could only make out so much. None of your classes were actually in engineering.

“What’s it do?” You ask, moving to your knees to get a better look at everything, “Your implant?”

“A couple of things.” Yondu turns, his chest facing you, “Ya ever met a Centaurian before?”

“Nah,” You shake your head, “Why?”

“If I can find my arrow, this’ll help control it.”

“Arrow?”

He nods, “A yaka arrow…”

You chew your lip, thinking, “I… I don’t remember an arrow or anything when 142 brought you in…”

A strange sound leaves his mouth, something between a snort and a heavy sigh, “Ain’t that just typical.” He shuffles the papers about, and pulls out a different blue print than the others. It looks like a handheld radar, or a cross between the original Star Trek comm units and the ones they used in Galaxy Quest.

“What’s that?”

“Something that should help get us outta here.”

“Rad.” A smile bursts across your face as you look back at the Ravager, “Whatcha need?”

-

As it turned out, there was a number of things Yondu needs to craft the thing. Most of it sounds like nonsense, but you make sure to write a list down for yourself, and ask for an explanation about what each component does. About halfway through the never-ending list, you turn to the Centaurian and ask, “Are you sure you don’t wanna just go meet with Kameca?”

The look he leveled on you quickly shut down any more of those thoughts.

Later, as you’re searching through the closet for another pen, Yondu asks you, “Who’s the kid?” You look at him, lost, until he points to the phone in your hand.

“Oh! Um, it’s my cousin, Lily,” You show him the picture on your lockscreen, “I was watching her so my aunt could teach classes.” You study the picture, full of melancholy, before the screen goes dark. Sighing, you put the cell phone away.

“Cute kid.”

“Yeah, she’s a real good kid too,” You sigh again, “I miss her.” There’s a beat of silence between you. Handing a working pen to Yondu, you try to resurrect the conversation, “You, um, d’you have anyone you’re… missing?” You wince at the question. It’s not the most eloquent thing to ever leave your lips and it wasn’t the worst, but the awkwardness was undeniable. “Or whatever.”

Yondu snorts, taking the pen, “Yeah, I got my boys.”

“Your… boys?” You stumble over the word, not sure of what the actual context might be. Yondu certainly looks old enough to be a dad, but it’s very hard to tell with aliens. The Grandmaster claims to be millennia old, and despite the fact that Scrapper 142 looks only a little older than you, you always get the feeling she’s seen far more than any human could in one lifetime.

Yondu hums in response, his attention back to the paper scattered about.

“So, uh, what’re they like? Your boys?” Your curiosity is desperate for context.

“Little shits, the both o’ ‘em.” An extremely unflattering snort escapes you, followed by a rather ugly giggling fit. It wasn’t an answer you expected, and his face was so perfectly blank as he said it, but man is that a universal truth.

“You’re so right!” You manage to force out between giggles “Kids can be so terrible.”

A smile breaks across his face, something soft and genuine and. Oh. Oh.

It’s a nice smile. A very nice smile.

A knock sounds at your door, and it with a wave of relief that you go to answer it. Willing your face to cool, you open the door. Ruelyz is standing on the other side.

“Good evening, Storyteller,” The pink woman bows gracefully, “I hope I am not intruding?”

As soon as you see her, you immediately stand straighter, squaring your shoulders. “Of course not. How may I be of assistance?” You can tell from the schooled expression that she sports, whatever she says next is not going to be pleasant.

“The Grandmaster has requested your presence in his chambers.”

“I was under the impression that he had granted me this evening to myself and my guest.” There’s no words for the annoyance you feel. Didn’t she tell you this morning you were given days to this “project”? You can hear Yondu moving behind you.

“The Grandmaster claims that he cannot sleep tonight without one of your tales. I was sent to fetch you.”

“I see. Give me one moment, please.” She inclines her head in agreement, and you gently shut the door. Taking a good step back from it, you let out a quick exclaim, “Shit!” and move about your room in a flurry of movement.

“What’s got your underwears in a bunch, girlie?”

“You!” You turn and point at the Ravager, a wild look in your eye. In your other hand is a clean dress and your hairbrush, “I have to go tell a shitty bedtime story- don’t know how long it’ll take- I just-“ You run a hand through your hair, “Just. Like. Don’t do anything that’ll get you in trouble? I don’t even know if you can leave this room…”

The controllers in the necks of the Grandmaster’s people are essentially shock collars and there are so many invisible fences in his tower…

Ruelyz knocks on your door again, “Storyteller?”

“Shit!”

“Look, I promise on the flame I wears, I ain’t gonna do anything stupid.” He stands, touching the emblem on his jacket. You can tell Yondu’s only humoring you, but man, it calms you down. Even if it’s really only a little. You turn away, dashing into the small washroom connected to yours. Quickly, you change your dress and run the brush through your hair.

“I’ll be back as quick as I can,” You tell Yondu, unsure of what else needs to be said. He just shrugs, and turns back to his clutter on the table, dismissing you.

It’s a little maddening.

Ruelyz knocks on the door again.

You step out, doing your best to appear as if floating. You put on your best ‘murder face’ and being your best ‘murder’ walk as you trail behind the other woman.

-

The Grandmaster is already settled into his great, plush bed and he looks a cross between weary and angry. The white pillows and blankets seem to swallow his whole body; the alien lord is just a dark blimp on a white cloud, in his blue and red bed clothes and eye mask pushed high on his forehead. There’s no smile, even as you enter the room.

“I can’t sleep.” He pouts, turning large brown eyes to you.

“I am very sorry to hear this, Master.” You step close to the bed. By his vanity is a man and woman, in various stages of undress. Apparently a bedtime story wasn’t the first thing he tried. The Grandmaster waves them away. “Shall I tell you a story?” You ask, keeping your back to them.

“Oh goodness, please yes!” The relief is strong in his soft voice.

“Well then-“

“Do you have any about your new friend yet?”

You bite back a grimace. You were afraid of this.

“Not yet, Master. It’s only been a day, and my… guest has been recuperating.”

“And here I was hoping for something new.”

“There are still many other tales I can spin for you, if you’d like,” You plaster a large smile on your lips, taking another step closer, “I don’t know if I’ve ever told you about unicorns.”

This grabs his interest, “Unicorns?”

“Yes. One of my favorites is about the last unicorn, who lived all alone in a lilac wood.”

There’s a moment of indecision on his face before, “No. I want to hear about the Centaurian,” He looks at you, “It’s, uh, been such a long time since I’ve seen one of them, you know.”

“Oh?”

“Oh, yes. D’you know,” He sits up on his elbows, “That they’re a race of empaths? Or, empaths are common among them, I forget precisely. Uh they can, they can pick up on any surface emotions?”

“Oh. That is pretty interesting.” You try to image Yondu as an empath, but draw a blank. You’ve only known the Ravager for a day, and you can’t say you’ve met an alien empath before. What they’re like, you don’t know. Would a Ravager be interested in the emotions of those around them? Would you be, if you were a pirate, a theif? “D… Would you like to hear a story about empaths?”

“They’re a very interesting people, Centaurians are,” The Grandmaster continues, ignoring you completely, “They, the Centaurians, have a fin, a crest on their heads,” He motions across his own, in the same place where your new friend has his busted implant, “That is integral to them. It’s, uh, it’s important to their connection to one another.”

Well, at least you’re getting some questions answered. Questions you didn’t know you had,and now you definitely have more, and it’s a little worrying that the Grandmaster seems stuck on the subject and won’t. Stop. Talking.

“And gosh, they can be some great fighters. It’s been a very very long time since I’ve seen one in actual combat…”

“A crest you say?” You force a gasp, your heart speeding up, “That’s so similar to our tales of harpys on Terra!” It’s a lie. It’s such a lie, but the sooner you can get him to shut up and go to sleep the better.

“What’s a harpy?” The Grandmaster blinks owlishly at you, thoroughly derailed.

“It’s a creature of myth,” You begin, leaning close. Your voice lowers to a whisper, “They’re said to watch over souls in the Underworld…”

It takes probably about half an hour, but you get the Grandmaster to sleep. You’ve woven a tale of epic Grecian proportions, and hope the tale of harpys and heroes will be enough for him to forget that “Centaurians are great fighters”.

Yondu has to stay out of the Contest for as long as possible. Longer. The minute he gets sent to fight, that’s when you’ll lose your only ticket off this rock. Your only ticket home.

Hell, you’d sooner go fight in the Contest than let him go. At least then you’d maybe get a quick death.

“Just get back home.” You murmur under your breath as you leave the opulent rooms. You had a goal in sight, a goal to focus on; get Yondu what he needs, get off this planet, go home. A three step, hopeful plan. It had to work. It had to.

-

Yondu’s lounging in your bed by the time you get back to your rooms. The papers and notebook is missing from the table. You assume he’s hidden them away somewhere. But you’re ticked that he’s just. Laying in your bed. Duster, jacket and shirt mysteriously missing, leaving the blue alien very much half naked on your bed. With his hands resting behind his head, like it’s no big deal. Like he’s been waiting for you.

You say nothing, but level the best, angriest glare you can. You grab bed clothes from your closet, heading to your washroom. He is, of course, still laying there when you walk back in.

It’s a nice chest. Very solid, with good muscle structure. It’s probably very good for cuddling, even with the crisscross of scars across his torso and why were you even thinking that?

“What’re you doing?” The words are snappish. You’re exhausted and just want to sleep, but there is a strange blue alien pirate commandeering your whole bed. He moves only enough to pat the tiniest sliver of space next to him.

“Why don’tcha bring yaself over ‘ere and join me?”

You reply, flatly, “No thanks, dude.” Instead, you drag out the extra blanket from the closet and flop down into your armchair. Masterfully ignoring the admittedly kinda attractive person on your bed.

What in the galaxy is wrong with the alien men in your life?

[thoughtsandeverythingelse]

my 10 year series

in light of everyone doing their reflection of the past 10 years, i think joining the bandwagon would help me look back on the past decade - if anything to make me think of things that i can be (extra) grateful for, so here goes; 

2010; primary school happened. tbh i cant remember much, (lol i actl went on a fb hunt but its taking forever to scroll everything, so im just going to write everything by my own memory and whatever it deems important haha)  had my psle, felt disappointed bc i didnt do well enough for my math (got like a C instead of a B that i thought i worked hard for), thankfully there’s a secondary school that allows me to be in express. confessed to this boy i liked in case i regret, but hey at least i had the guts to tell him ok!  2011; start of secondary school, met different people from all kinds of backgrounds - the broken, the privileged, etc. also increase weight gain bc of puberty + lack of self control. started learning a new instrument (the saxophone). start of bullying all over again bc of the weight, but also liked this boy for treating me like a human - turns out i can like someone for a very long time. also crucial time for me of getting to know jw, probably was the first few contacts we had. 

2012; increased weight gain, increased bullying as well. i remember (for the drama), i ran out of class crying and went into the arms of a friend, just because the hurtful things i’ve heard the boys said. also streaming year, but not sure what i was doing half the time, but had to make important decisions (subject choices). weight gain was really bad here. trip to china with the school was great though! probably one of the highlights of school. 

2013; best year of my secondary school life; probably bc i dont remember studying much bc of my sinful ways lol, but also bc i had so much fun in school and barely scrapped through my results. couldnt stand the bullying so started the herbalife diet and lost the weight subsequently, but took a hell lot of time.  started running a lot! i think this is also the year i started serving in camy, but also dont remember what i was doing half the time ahahha. by the grace of God, i think i rly barely passed to even go into secondary 4 lol. also the year i fell into the radio world, and found my love for mass comm. got my piercings here in the midst of the recalcitrant self, hated my math teacher to the guts and didnt know how to treat people right in the midst of the ‘identity confusion lol’ got drunk for the first time with friends drinking at the beach, partying in our minor years hahahha.  2014; O levels year. didnt hang out much with the bad company, and i think this was when i studied the hardest. i actually started catching up and getting serious, (and did well for the first time in my education woohoo!) but in the midst of the pride, my results dropped for O levels but all’s good. applied for dpa but failed, but went applied for JPSAE and really by the grace of God, i got into mass comm (after my results). ran my first few marathons here too! my secondary school friends settled down here - besides the insane brain study cramp, i think sec 4 was something i really appreciated, being able to study and kinda not hating myself, but learning how to trust God too.  2015; good 8 months of working part time! wow this is actually a pretty good year. had blue hair, (woohoo!) then got into the school of my dreams by the hand of God (this one rly wah.) first backpacking trip of my life (which made me love life so much more), struggled through the first year of school too. tbh this makes me think of my poly life - and all i can remember it to be would be just ‘BUSY’ and ‘CHINA’. lol how ironic??? considering this place was a dream for me, but i turned out to leave feeling to bleh about it. (but ok not true, i think it was an experience i am willing to take, looking back). understood the pain of the evil media/coporate world haha. the lack of sleep was real, but i actl started the year quite skinny leh!!! then the subsequent weight gain was very real hahahaha. joined ambassadors, started ‘dating’, the idea of having the social life was very real too 2016; BUSY BUSY BUSY. not sure what i was doing with my life tbh, but ok it was more media stuff, perhaps my brain does not want to revisit the joy bc it is attached with the pain and bitter side of things, but i know i have to let these go too. ‘broke up’! learnt about love and confrontation. WOW OK this is also the year i had my really really short hair!!!! wow i have no idea where i got the guts to do it, but i did it anyway HAHAHA. also the year ah ma passed away, then i ran my own comm (and saw people grow so well :’) ), kinda reaffirmed me of why im doing what im doing, and being able to groom people was such a privilege. also the year i hated running RC bc camp finale, but also the year i discovered my r/s with k and the love i had for him.  2017; the birth of beyond. i cant believe it feels so foreign to me now, but man it wasnt just the boy from beyond, but the joy from the relationships i had because of it. OIC HK was an experience, then it was also Y3 and i cant believe it was a painful year bc of school (like the heck its alr 3 years still want to torture me leh!!!!). my first refugee trip whcih broke my heart, found myself crying over the issues of the world then realising i might not even have an answer for everything. falling in love with beyond, then realising our overseas internship was happening - one of the best things that happened to me for someone that’s 19 (young and free lol) also the loudest thought from jesus came in as i was entering the shower; “how can you love someone else, when you have yet to love me?” 2018; interned, met Jesus then decided to take a gap year. best of ministry bc of the partnership i had, but also the growth for the love for people. ran the next trip for the refugee kids, (even brought our graduation gowns lol) learnt how to cut hair!!! had the mass realisation that the world is VERY big. too big for my little brain to comprehend.  started working with geylang adventures, then as the year transited into 2019, i got the job offer for st andrews autism school.  2019; realisation about the relationship i have with k - literally non-exsistant anymore. this one broke my heart quite a bit. (still trying to cope with it i guess.) went back to china on my own to surprise visit my friends woohoo.  worked for st andrews + geylang adventures/backalleybarbers. tbh now that i look back into my gap year, im not sure what i was doing, but at the same time - it was something that i think my soul needed. not to rush just because the world is, but understanding so much of who God is, decerning the peace and learning so much about life. after many tears, many questions, i got into university. not my first choice, (not even in my life of choices tbh) but....; 

2020; 

it is day 4 of 2020, and i love what im studying. i love the friends that i’ve met in school bc they are easy to love, i love the nature of what im studying bc of the sheer contact of humanity it has. truth be told, none of us are going to become social workers. not at least those in my social circle. but at the same time, we are here studying in our best abilities, understanding who God is, through each other, through the course of study, through the people we meet. i love what im studying, but i got my first F in school, but yet i didn’t even panic (not like in mass comm leh!!!) and i could literally laugh it off. that’s how much i love what im doing. 

and for that, as i’m writing this, i feel the need to scream at the top of the mountains that i’m thankful. the heart of gratitude is so real, the hand of God in my life is so real - you can argue that it is by sheer coincidence. i dont disagree, perhaps. but the peace - this immense peace, this joy, the intensity of this joy, cannot be explained, nor contained. i feel this need to shout across to the people i love and say HELLO THIS IS THE GOD I LOVE!!!! LISTEN TO ME!!!!!! HOW AM I SO SPECIAL!!!!!  so thank you Jesus, for loving me. for the past 10 years. and for the many years to come. with a heart of gratitude, thank you for everything. perhaps this is not enough as a thank you message. perhaps only my life in return can translate my act of gratitude. until then, JESUS YOU ARE SO COOL and i think im starting to fall in love with you again. help me fall in love with you because you are you, and not because the things you have done for me. not because of how everything ‘seems so smooth’, but bc of who you are, your goodness, your grace, your mercy, your character, your nature, every bit of who you are!!!! 

[sepdet]

Star Trek Discovery

Ep1 liveblog (edited)

TL;DR: It feels like Star Trek.

I didn't watch any previews, behind-the-scenes or promotional material whatsoever, because I hate spoilers. 

Putting liveblog/reactions behind a cut.

ETA: I didn’t post this Sunday bc I was on iPad and current Tumblr app has no way to make break. Watched ep 2 on Tuesday night, which has somewhat tempered my excitement and unqualified endorsement of this show. 

Opening scenario feels like a good thing for Federation vessel to do: discreetly save a large population and slip away, without making a big deal about it.

So nice to hear Number One used for a woman again who does sound a little like original Number One: cool and logical. Are her ears round or not? *squints*

FX are beautiful without being intrusive, characters and story in foreground. This may work. I love FX but I hate it when show relies on FX to entertain and keep audience off-balance, adrenaline pumped— using spectacle to substitute for good story and character.

Clever captain is clever. Already in love.

Vintage communicator made me HAPPY.

Lovely understated credits with an interesting vintage-map look and just a few old Trek grace notes in the music (and phaser and communicator)-- can't do nostalgia too much but it loves its roots.

The year is 2256. The construction of the Babylon 5 station is running behind schedule and over budget...No, wait, wrong universe.

THE BRIDGE NOISES ARE REAL BRIDGE NOISES. There's the chirrup chirp chirp sound!

Okay, this is SO SO COOL. Everything looks like a new 21st century show, as it should, and they're not afraid to change things up. But they let old Trekkies feel like we're on comfortable ground in the simplest and most subtle way possible: the original bridge noises, which for those of us who grew up as original or children of original Trekkies (raised on reruns) is as familiar as a mother's heartbeat. It sounds like home.

So, Michael is a bit reckless. Love her enthusiasm.

Just the TINIEST bit of classic Trek knowledge comes in handy here: we knew Klingons had gotten the Romulan cloaking device at some point, so as soon as there's something mucking with sensors, we wait with bated breath for uncloaking. But opening scene -- with some dramatic Klingon speechifying, fanservice to those who know the language -- tells newbies to expect Klingons, whatever the heck they are.

...

Okay, with all due respect to Klingons and Michael's ethical quandary — her intrusion led to conflict and a Klingon's death, whoops — the Klingon declaming is dragging a bit. (And I will have to get used to their new look, but it's no longer a shock the way it was in The first Trek movie when they mutated so much)

Flashback time! So that's why she sounds like a Vulcan. Great way to play with Spock/Data archetype: this time it's a human who was raised Vulcan instead of a half-human Vulcan. I'm delighted to see Sarek, although with one quibble: Sarek was an ambassador; AMANDA was the teacher! They better not forget Amanda.

(Dammit tumblr just killed my liveblog. Try to recap notes.)

Nice crisis moment: Michael rushing up to the bridge dangerously injured. Slightly gratuitous nudity, but much better than before (and at least it's to show her wounds, not TEH SEXY). Michael again being an effective and brave first officer.

Yeoh's so controlled and understated, I'm having a little trouble reading her character's personality, but she's an absolutely convincing captain with rock-solid gravitas, and it's a slightly unusual archetype for female characters, so, great.

DECLOAKING TIME! Klingons have taken an upgrade in ugly, even in their ship design. i'm sure they'd say the same about FEDS.

THE SHIPS ARE NOT IN THE SAME PLANE! RePeat, THE SHIPS ARE ACTUALLY NOT ORIENTED THE SAME WAY! IT TOOK 50 YEARS, BUT SPACE IS NOW THREE DIMENSIONAL!!!!!

...yeah, I'm zeroing in on the really important stuff. XP

I am forcing myself not to dwell on questionable science, but I feel like radiation doesn't work that way. Oh well.

Klingons dealing with racism within. Hm. A bit simplistic in the way classic Trek was, which is kind of interesting since the ethical dilemmas the Feds are facing isn't.

I love that Sarek is Michael's mentor, although I'm a little torn. Original Sarek: Refused to speak to his son for a decade after he joined Starfleet and was disappointed and angry at Spock leaving Vulcan. If he was that bent out of shape about Spock indulging his human side, then why would Sarek take in a human ward during the very years he wasn't speaking to Spock? But Sarek was always oddly inconsistent, marrying a human and then expecting her and his son to be assimilated to Vulcan. Still wonder how Amanda figures into all this; it's bizarre her husband's taken such an interest in this girl but Amanda Grayson, teacher and evidently a remarkable human to have captured Sarek's heart, is mysteriously absent.

Also, being able to summon the great Ambassador Sarek up to have a time out and talk to the pitching coach is a bit far-fetched? Oh well. Dramatic device, shortcut to get to meat of drama.

Oh, boy, holographic comms sure beat little viewscreens. And the usual scenario of being told by an Admiral back at Starfleet HQ to do nothing. This always goes well.

"There is a difference between race and culture." Oooo. Interesting postulate. Not sure if I agree or not. But then, here we are with 3 people of different races and at least one with a very different culture discussing it, so, QED? I like a Trek that poses questions worthy of debating.

Also the Federation isn't necessarily in the RIGHT here, but they're trying to figure out the right thing to do. That seems like an excellent way to update Trek: applying classic Trek optimism, ideals and ethics to situations that aren't as cut-and-dried. TOS tried to picture a better world but it and TNG tended towards a somewhat simplified utopia. This is subtly avoiding that unfortunate imperialist subtext that portrayed Kirk, Picard, and friends as coming from a morally superior stance and advanced civilization, giving themselves a kind of self-anointed authority akin to what Americans do when they go to "help" other countries.

Whereas this is messy and complicated like the real world and they are operating from a position of not having all the answers. Which is more like us.

And whoa, torch of Kahless. Klingon fans again must be overjoyed. i can be happy for them while missing jolly old Kor (I just adored him) and imposing Kang.

Random thought: both Who and Star Trek have good, three-dimensional, leading black women characters this year, almost for the first time, and in both cases they have what are usually men's names. Hrm. Why?

...WOW.

Michael's insubordination, argument with captain in the ready room, and that surprise vulcan nerve pinch were awesome and I have NO IDEA which of them is right here (except I lean towards Sarek) or what will happen now.

...

....all shit hits fan in a glorious way, and I like that the crew aren't stupid, Saru realizes Michael's mutinying.

And wow what a way to make the captain suddenly badass while staying cool and collected. Phaser out. Old phaser out. Turned on the Spock character (sort of; in some ways Phillipa is more Spockish, Michael more Kirk-heroic and rulebreaking.)

Shoulda realized it'd end with a cliffhanger. EXCELLENT cliffhanger.

Can i avoid online spoilers if I wait until I'm feeling better to watch? Fandom Auntie is tired and only got 4 hours of sleep last night.

[ETA: Here’s my commentary for part 2.]

[noscorpsaladerive]

@mordredoforkney asked me to talk about how i would rewrite lra but tumblr’s being stupid so i gotta repost it and not under a cut bc i can’t get the page to open on my blog :P

anyways i’ve waited y e a r s for this question i’ve had this typed up since 2015 and s/o to @europeansdomusicalsbetter for her thoughts and input

long story short i take out the rape scene and make it so all of the recorded songs fit into the show but this is super long so it’s going under the cut

Introduction to Merlin and his deal with the Dragon.  Scene with knights attempting to pull out Excalibur.  Méléagant tries and fails.  After misplacing his brother’s sword, Arthur is successful in removing the sword from the stone.  Méléagant gets angry and accuses Merlin of seeking power for himself. Advienne que pourra Gawain trains Arthur in sword fighting while they’re on their way to Camelot.  Julien/Homme du peuple shows up and is like “Dude Méléagant’s super pissed that you stole the throne from him so now he’s holding my liege hostage.  Come help please?”  Arthur agrees. Arthur and Méléagant face each other in battle.  Arthur wins but is badly injured in the process.  He asks Méléagant to knight him, and Méléagant reluctantly agrees.  The daughter of the lord arrives, and Méléagant reminds her that although he will no longer be king, he will still marry her.  He also hints at getting revenge before leaving with his henchmen.  Guinevere’s like yeah whatever this guy’s hot let’s get him healed.  Her handmaidens (who aren’t pregnant in my version because wtf was that dove) help the king’s knights bring him inside. Rêver l’impossible Arthur and Guinevere introduce themselves to each other.  Maybe also mention how much time has passed just because it’ll make more sense than being magically healed by pregnant handmaidens.  Merlin shows up and is like “Arthur I know you just got injured and that you think you’re in love, but we gotta go defeat the Saxons.”  Guinevere’s like “Mais le roi est fatigué ; il a besoin de repos” and Flo does that sassy wave that he did one time because he should do that forever and always. Quelque chose de magique Merlin returns and says, “Stop the party I’ve got to reintroduce Julien/Homme du peuple.”  Flo Arthur stops noodling long enough to listen to Julien rock out. Délivre-nous Arthur says something inspiring about how he must help his people before he can get laid or some shit.  He tells Guinevere that he must depart but that he will send for her once he has defeated the Saxons. Je me relève The Saxons have been defeated in what will probably result in another dramatic dance number.  Merlin and Gawain bring Arthur back to Camelot and the court.  Or maybe instead of starting this scene with them, it could start with Kay at Camelot, and he receives word that the new king will be arriving soon.  Then Urien could talk to Morgane (thus establishing contact way before “Il est temps”), and her dead parents are mentioned so she can sing.  Maybe something is mentioned about the round table too? Ce que la vie a fait de moi Merlin and Gawain arrive in court with Arthur in tow.  They have some fancy arrival scene where Arthur is introduced as the son of Uther Pendragon. Morgane has a startled yet confused reaction at first.  Arthur makes an announcement that he is to be married and that they must send for Guinevere at once.  If not mentioned earlier, the round table should be mentioned here.  As Arthur and company leave the stage, the setting changes to Morgane’s chambers that evening where she dreams of her mother. Dors Morgane dors (the version on the CD not the stage version) Morgane wakes from her trance in a rage.  She swears vengeance on not only Arthur but Merlin as well for the role that he played in her mother’s rape. Tu vas le payer Kay once again announces the arrival of the future queen of Camelot, and nothing is changed about this scene because it is Emily’s aesthetic and it is perfect. Au diable After Guinevere is settled in court (aka after she sits down on the throne), a mysterious group of players arrive to entertain the king.  Knowing that Arthur would never take her seriously if he knew who told the story, Morgane arrives in disguise. A l’enfant After Morgane reveals herself, Arthur is furious.  Upset at how he reacted and because she accidentally played a role in confronting her future husband, Guinevere rushes off stage (so she can get changed into her next costume).  Merlin and Arthur share a moment where Merlin does some dramatic foreshadowing about how that probably wasn’t a good idea and Arthur’s like “I don’t give a fuck.”   Transition into Guinevere’s garden.  Kay tries to cheer up the future queen with his silly antics, and her handmaidens quickly catch on and join in.  However, nothing really cheers her up until an unknown man shows up in her garden with his sassy squad of backup dancers.  The young man demands to see the king so he can become a knight.  After learning that he must be introduced, he asks Guinevere to do so.  They have several moments of cuteness yet also sadness since you know she’s kind of engaged to another, and she eventually agrees to introduce him.  She bids him farewell and sweeps offstage in her fabulous dress.  Lancelot is so excited that he’s going to be a knight and that he met the most beautiful lady in the world that he has to sing about it because it’s a freaking musical.  Tamara/Leia is probably hanging around so she can report to Morgane. Le monde est parfait Literally the exact same scene that’s currently in the show.  Even down to the “Donnez-moi une mission; je préfère mourir.”  “Restez en vie, c’est un ordre!”   Si je te promets

INTERMISSION

Tant de haine During the song, Morgane and Tamara arrive.  Distrusting her at first, Méléagant decides to trust her after learning of the wrongs that Merlin and Arthur have committed against her.  They decide to form an alliance.  Morgane mentions that she can put a spell on Méléagant that will make him powerful enough to defeat Arthur and take his rightful place on the throne.  She also announces her plan to destroy Arthur by using Guinevere and Lancelot’s love, and Morgane goes on to explain that by destroying Arthur, they will destroy Merlin as well. Transition to Camelot where Kay announces that the royal couple is about to be married.  Arthur and Guinevere are married while Lancelot sings. L’amour quel idiot Arthur pulls Merlin aside to have a father/son moment.  Arthur is still angsty over Morgane’s accusations, and he wonders what he should do now that the Saxons are defeated. Qui suis-je ? Merlin reiterates that Arthur should go after the Grail and maybe mentions something about how Arthur is not responsible for the mistakes of his father (this is some J’accuse mon père stuff right here).  Arthur agrees to seek out the Grail in a reprise that currently (unfortunately) does not exist. Je me relève (reprise) Transition to Méléagant’s castle.  Méléagant wants to know why Morgane’s plan is taking so long.  She tells him that the spell is ready, then they go into the “Je le jure” bit before breaking into song.  During the instrumental break in the middle, there’s some cool witchcraft happening.  This is when Morgane takes Méléagant’s soul. A nos vœux sacrés These next few songs will literally happen exactly like they currently do in the show.  Except Méléagant just falls asleep in his shadows’ arms instead of dying.  He lives, he sleeps, he lives again. (sorry samuel this is something we’d joke and say about méléagant since the skull makeup makes him look like a warboy from mad max fury road XD) Faire comme si Wake Up Nos corps à la dérive Il est temps Mon combat -- this now serves more as foreshadowing of a future confrontation instead of the confrontation itself (hopefully anyways) Le Chant du dragon Auprès d’un autre After Guinevere and Lancelot have left, Arthur’s gaze falls upon Morgane, and he orders his knights to arrest her.  He tells her that he figured out her plan, but that it won’t work.  He’s hurt, but he has forgiven Guinevere and Lancelot and will continue to rule.  Arthur orders his knights to step away from Morgane, and he tells her that he forgives her too and that she is free to leave if she chooses.  Morgane is in disbelief; how can he forgive her after all the pain she just put him through?  She tells Arthur no.  She will stay in Camelot and help him become the greatest king of all time. Un Nouveau Départ - sung by Morgane, change the line about vengeance.  Maybe other cast members join in during the later verses/refrains? Promis c’est juré - curtain call song plus one more jam for the road (maybe mon combat instead of quelque chose de magique)

obvs there are still a couple of kinks to work out but @ dove pls hire me to rewrite your musical