#although i may have misread the situation

[kotoku]

May I request an Aventurine x Halovian!reader

No pressure, have a nice day, byee

[Runs]

ꜱᴇᴠᴇɴ ᴀɴᴅ ꜱᴇᴠᴇɴ

synopsis - Aventurine was always a regular at the bar you worked at due to it's reputation and closeness to the casino he frequented. As the weeks flew by, you couldn't help but gain feelings for the blond gambler yet you refuse to do anything with them. Turns out, it only took a Seven and Seven to seal the deal with him.

pairings - aventurine x halovian! reader

content - pining, drunk! aventurine, sober confessions, gagged reader

warnings - alcohol, a couple cuss words, possibly ooc aventurine, i tried focusing on the halovian part i'm sorry--

⋘ ʟᴏᴀᴅɪɴɢ... ⋙

Working in a renowned bar had its fair share of perks and flaws. The perks were the free drinks you were able to make for yourself, the amount of tips you’d receive from dreamchasers, and lastly, the stories that you would hear from each and every individual. As for the flaws..you’d have to deal with drunk patrons who’d have no shame in flirting with you, getting a little too ambitious to where they don’t respect your personal space, and some of their messes (bar fights, vomit, etc…). 

As common as these situations may be, you rarely have to go through them alone thanks to your coworkers and other helpful customers. These people as well as the regulars who frequent may be the sole reason why you decide to stick around, ignoring the pay and tips of course.

Currently, you are working the closing shift this time. You had always enjoyed working during the night, finding solitude in making drinks without having to run around all day. Although passing the time was difficult with the small number of customers, a slow night brought a moment of peace for your busy brain.

Hearing the familiar jingle of the bell signaling a customer snapped you out of your daze, putting down the wine glass you were just cleaning.

“Welcome, can I get you your usual, Mr. Aventurine?” You greeted, recognizing the familiar head of blond. 

Aventurine was one of the bar’s regulars, always seeking out the place after he visited the casino he frequented. A gambler at heart, he truly knew how to swindle people of their valuables. And in this case, your heart.

Despite his flirtatious actions and compliments, you always maintained a healthy distance between the two of you, never wanting to get too close…

“You don’t have to be so formal.” Aventurine gave you a smug grin, brow raised in slight amusement. “But yes. You know me so well, don’t you, _____?”

And how badly that failed.

You knew you could never tell him your feelings, for you fear you misread between the lines and all you truly were was just a friend to the man. A simple-winged bartender who was easy to toy with.

You gave him a simple smile, preparing to make his drink. “I would hope so, you’ve been coming here for a couple of months now.” 

There was a small pause. 

You had heard Aventurine pulling out the stool from behind you, the crinkling of clothes as he took his seat at the bar. His gaze burned through your head, yet you focused on gathering the ingredients. Turning back around, you engaged in the process that you’ve performed numerous times.

“What have you been up to, Aventurine?” You spoke, attempting to ease the silence.

“Hmm, just some business matters with The Family. Other than that, I’ve been doing the same old thing.” He replied, toying with that chip he always had on him. You hummed in response, finishing up his drink.

“Seems a little troublesome. I’m glad this bar offers you a place to unwind.” Aventurine laughed.

“You know it.”

Sliding his drink over to him, you watched as he took it between his nimble fingers and swirled it around.

“What about you? Any patrons hitting on you again lately?” Aventurine chuckled as he took a sip of his drink. You rolled your eyes with a laugh.

“Of course, they always try to smooth talk their way into bagging a date with me. Which normally never turns out well for them.” You picked up the wine glass you had set down and resumed cleaning, humming along to the songs resonating throughout the bar. “Thankfully no one has tried putting their hands on me thanks to people like you coming to my aid.” 

There were a few cases where customers were banned from the site due to harassment, where they would pull on your wings or fling your halo around. Those kinds of people were rare to come by, but your manager would happily deal with them by throwing them out to the streets.

“Don’t mention it, we are friends after all.” Aventurine waved you off, giving you a polite smile. 

Friends.

You could only give Aventurine a smile of your own as your actions slowed. 

-----

Some time had passed and the bar was nearing its closing time. Customers were long gone by now except for the blond gambler who lay slumped against the wooden counter. His gloved hand was propped up so he was supporting his head, his half-empty drink in the other. He looked a little rough.

With a concerned gaze, you put up the last chair and slowly walked over towards him. With a gentle shake, he stirred a little before his eyes met yours. 

“Mr Aventurine?” You softly spoke, taking a step back to allow him some space. Aventurine rubbed at his face a bit, mumbling about something before returning his focus to you. 

“Don’t call me that. S’too formal.” He grumbled, his brows furrowed. “Just call me Aven.” 

Aventurine struggled to form a coherent sentence, his words were slurred together and he’d stumble over what he was saying. It was obvious that the man was drunk just by his speech and his request to call him a cute, little nickname. Seeing him behave this way made you feel a little warm but more so worried.

“Ah, ok… Er– Aven, we need to get you back to your hotel room. It’s getting late.” You took his finished glass and cleaned it, stacking it away with the other glasses on the shelves. Throughout the time you were cleaning, Aventurine just sat there and watched, eyes slowly blinking as he would occasionally sway from side to side.

After you had finished the last of your routine, you helped Aventurine stand from his seat, pushing the stool in with your foot. You struggled at first to get him past the door in the darkness, but eventually, the two of you made it outside. The cool night air made you shiver a little, but due to Aventurine’s body heat, it kept you warm throughout your walk. 

“Aven..can you lead me to your hotel room?” You asked, eyes darting to his sluggish figure as he stumbled next to you. 

“Mmno… I feel so dizzy…” Aventurine mumbled, leaning his head against your shoulder. His breath would fan against your wings, causing them to twitch in response which he’d giggled at. Sighing, you decided to direct him to your place instead as it seemed like he was a bit too drunk to remember his hotel room. 

Fumbling with your door keys, you managed to get the door open with your free hand, nudging the door with your foot. Kicking off your shoes, you flipped on the light switch that way you didn’t trip over any furniture or items that could be lying around. 

“We’re here. Make yourself comfortable on the couch. I’ll go get you some water.” Aventurine flopped onto the living room couch, clutching a pillow close to him as he sank into the plush furniture. You could hear him mumbling about something, but you couldn’t make out what he was saying.

Grabbing a glass and filling it with cold water, you returned back to where he was and took a seat next to him. 

“Here, you should drink some water, Aven.” You nudged the water towards him but he wouldn’t budge, turning you away. It took some time and effort but eventually, you were able to convince him to drink it. 

It didn’t surprise you that he was dehydrated since he finished the entire glass, taking it from him and setting it aside. 

“You feeling better?” 

“...” 

No response. You figured that he was tired and needed some sleep.

You moved to go get a blanket for him but a sudden weight pulled you back down onto the couch, trapping you. Shuffling around in a panic, you could see Aventurine’s blond strands in your peripheral vision, his hold tightening on you as he nuzzled into the crook of your neck near your wing.

“Aven! Are you–?” You were interrupted by a groan, his head burying further underneath your wing. You were afraid that your halo would poke him, so you angled yourself in a way that would be comfortable for the both of you. 

“So warm…” He tiredly murmured, cradling you closer to him.

It was certainly unexpected but also a little inappropriate, you didn’t want him to get the wrong idea when he woke up. You tried wiggling your way out of his grasp but he wouldn’t move an inch, his hold only growing firmer around you. 

“Stop moving around so much,” Aventurine grunted, cracking a single eye open as he peered down at you. You obeyed, but you were too flustered to even make eye contact with him so your wings had moved to guard your reddening face. You heard him make a sound of confusion, his arms moving to prod them away. 

“Hey… Let me see your pretty face.” He huffed, finger tugging at your wings. 

Pretty!?

Now you really didn’t want to make eye contact with him, your wings firmly remaining where they are. 

“You need to get some rest, Aven. You’re drunk!” You protested, trying to swat his hands away. He pouted.

“No.”

“Yes.” 

“No.”

“Aventurine…”

“No.”

“Aventurine!”

He rolled his eyes at you.

“Fine, I will, but you aren’t going anywhere.” 

“Wh–”

Aventurine kept you in place in a spooning position so that way you had no escape from him. His face had resumed nuzzling into your hair this time, inhaling the familiar scent of your shampoo with a satisfied hum. 

Your face was burning red at this point, stuck between wanting to escape his hold to staying where you are and living in your rom-com fantasy. You chose the latter. 

With a defeated sigh, you made yourself comfortable. It looks like you’ll be here for a while…

-----

It had started to rain throughout the night, following into the next morning. The rain pelted against the glass windows of your house relentlessly, the sound putting your mind at ease. The smell of a familiar expensive cologne clouded your senses, reminding you of a blond gambler as you were about to drift back to sleep.

Wait. A familiar expensive cologne. A blond gambler. 

Wait…

Your eyes flew back open, darting around the living room as you tried to locate Aventurine. The sound of a toilet being flushed and a door creaking open snapped your attention towards the bathroom, heart pounding in your chest as the memories from last night flooded back. You heard slow footsteps coming from the hallway, a small yawn coming from Aventurine as his eyes met yours. 

“Oh hey, you’re awake. How was your sleep?” He casually asked, flashing you a small smile.

You sat there stunned, eyes blinking at him as he chuckled at your expression. 

“Well, judging by the way you were clinging to me and your refusal for me to get up… I’d say you had an amazing good night's rest.” Aventurine’s smile morphed into a smug smirk, plopping down right next to you.

“Y-you–”

“Ah bup bup,” he shushed you, “I have a clue as to what happened last night. With my coat neatly folded up, my footwear being set next to the couch, my–” “Nothing happened!” 

You interrupted, some of your feathers popping off due to the heart attack this stupid blond man was giving you. They had moved to cover your heated cheeks, leaving you an opening to look at the shit-eating expression Aventurine had on his face. You wanted to punch him right then and there, but you wouldn’t. 

“Ohoh why so flustered? If you’re this embarrassed, then I can assume–” “No! You just passed out drunk on the couch and you refused to let me go! I-I would never do such a thing with a customer! Let alone if they’re drunk!” You cried, waving your arms in front of you. Aventurine pouted at you.

“Oh? And here I thought that I was special– that I meant something to you.” He dramatically sighed, falling back against the couch with an arm across his face.. “It seems that I read too far into your actions, dear _____.” 

Your heart fluttered, confusion etched into your features at his words. 

“Special? Reading too far into my actions? What do you mean?” You nervously chuckled, fiddling with your fingers. 

Aventurine lifted his arm so it no longer covered his face, his magenta and cyan eyes piercing through your own with a gaze so intense it made you shiver. “I thought that it was obvious, _____.”

“What? What are you–” 

Within a blink of an eye, he was now much closer to you. His hands which were no longer covered by his gloves gently tilted your chin up so you could look at him, his free hand interlocking with your own. You could feel the heat radiating off from your own face and his, growing hotter by the minute. You felt like you were going to overheat.

“I adore you a lot, _____.”

Yup, you were definitely going to overheat.

All you could do was gawk at him, mouth opening and closing as you struggled to get a word out. 

“I-I–” Aventurine laughed, letting you go but still keeping your fingers interlocked. 

“It’s okay, you don’t have to say anything. I already know the answer.” He hummed, pulling you up from your seat. “Now…”

“How about I take you out on a date? Consider it as an apology for having you take care of me all night.”

⋘ ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟᴇᴛᴇ! ⋙

[anghraine]

I've been moving and navigating further departmental nonsense etc (my pseudo-dissertation got approved for defending, though! l o l). But it was interesting to see the Worst P&P Takes poll I reblogged accumulating more results and the general tenor of responses in the notes.

I mean, the results are definitely to be expected if you're familiar with the side of Austen fandom doing a lot of the reblogging etc. But still, interesting!

Many Tumblr polls specify that they're asking about personal preferences that may be irrational—favorite/least favorite, coolest/most annoying, or something like that. This one, though, asked for the worst interpretation of P&P, not the most annoying one—and the current leader is "Darcy is never really proud, he's just shy and probably has anxiety" against some very steep competition on the Bad Takes front.

I was thinking about why that seemed a kind of tediously predictable choice even though I agree that the take is wrong, and realized that while I do disagree with the shy Darcy interpretation and I particularly disagree with the specific formulation where he is never proud at all, it ultimately feels to me like a failure of nuance rather than just completely wrongheaded like some of the others. And this is probably my fundamental difference with a lot of Darcy takes I see!

In my opinion, a character who is introverted and who feels awkward in various social situations and who doesn't like common social activities and who has to work himself up to talking to his crush and who is repeatedly suggested to behave very differently in contexts where he's more comfortable being interpreted as shy and anxious is not that big of a leap.

Yes, it's important that he is actually fundamentally confident and haughty, that he makes his personal feelings of discomfort other people's problem, and that he thinks he's such a unique and special butterfly that he doesn't need to even put in an effort outside his personal social circle. But it's a misreading that is easy to follow (and long predates the 2005 P&P, as I've mentioned before!).

The additional misreading that a shy and anxious Darcy is also never proud at all is a much more drastic leap, and in my experience, condemnations of shy Darcy interpretations rarely differentiate between "Darcy is shy as well as arrogant" and "Darcy is shy rather than arrogant" as interpretations (although their basic arguments are quite different). But even that as the worst possible misreading of P&P when Darcy is not even the main character is ?????????

I mean, for one alternative (not even the one I voted for!), the idea that Elizabeth is an author avatar Mary Sue seems a far worse misreading of P&P than basically anything to do with Darcy at all. The center piece of the entire novel is Elizabeth's epiphany of self-knowledge about her own shortcomings that do not particularly resemble Austen's at all, but were ethically a concern for her, and she's a complex, interesting character in general whom Austen correctly regarded as a major achievement. Inverting that into Elizabeth as an improbably perfect, reality-warping self-insert is deeply wrong and frankly pretty misogynistic as well.

(ngl though, it's a little funny to see such a blatantly terrible reading of Elizabeth rank so far behind the shy Darcy votes. I've gotten "does anyone actually think/say that?" so many times on my posts about Austen fandom's prioritization of Darcy's character development over Elizabeth's and yet...)

And even just going with the Darcy-centric misreadings, the idea of Darcy as a "bad boy" seems easily the most absolutely wrong take on him. His pride is at least complicated and the finer points can be fairly debated and it's a quality that actually changes somewhat throughout the novel, and you can have discussion over what happened when, whose testimonies should be weighted more, etc. But there is no point at which "bad boy" isn't utterly wrong for him. However, there's definitely a tendency in some wings of the fandom to find the idea of Darcy being misread too favorably more objectionable than him being read too unfavorably, regardless of the particulars, so it's not a surprise.

I suppose you could argue about what "worst" means in the context of variously bad interpretations. Like, is an interpretation that is about a fairly trivial aspect of the book but extremely wrong about it "worse" than an interpretation that is pretty bad but at least comprehensibly so about something very important?

[michimonie]

I'd like to ask you about Donald and Gladstone: how do they talk about their girlfriends? In private conversations?

I just want to start this with: I misread that at first and thought you had asked how Daffy and Gladstone talk about their girlfriends, lol (so I may be posting a video related to that later on)

I would imagine Donald would be pretty open with how much he loves Daisy.

He seems like the type to start gushing about her when given the chance. Although, it might depend on the version, too, because sometimes in older comics, he seems to have no problems saying that he writes poems for her, but other times he's embarrassed at people finding out about his love letters.

For Gladstone, I'm more of a Magicstone shipper, so I'll be using her for this. (in my duck gals headcanon sheet, I just threw whoever was easiest for me in for Gladstone's and Daffy's gf spots)

If he's with Magica, I would have to assume he doesn't want it getting out. If his family heard about it, who knows what they would do to him. He probably would tell people he isn't dating anyone, or pull a similar situation to "A Gal for Gladstone" in which Magica is disguised as someone else.

To add to that, here's a cute moment in "A Gal for Gladstone" where he happily introduces his new girlfriend (who he doesn't know is Magica in disguise, yet).

Cute quotes from above: Gladstone: Uncle Scrooge! Say hello to my sweetheart! Matilda! Gladstone: Thanks to Matilda! She's made me see happiness isn't about fancy-free luck!

If given the chance, maybe he would gush as much (if not more) than Donald?

[starcanwrecked-confessions]

This whole chastities debate has got me thinking... is media literacy actually dead. like actually. the issue with grace's parents isnt that theyre religious (although their religion does obviously have a hand in it) the issue is that theyre evangelical fundementalist purity culture fucks who raised their daughter to be so repressed she Kills people (maybe a bit of a shorthand, theres more going on with her, but thats kind of the gist of it). guys please. read between the lines. it isnt expicitly Shown that the chastities are bad parents i guess but if you look at the few interactions that they have, and look at the way grace is, i think the implications there are pretty clear - even if it isnt overtly and explicitly SHOWN to be abusive or toxic in anyway. writers shouldnt need to sit you down and spoonfeed you information in order to portray an unhealthy family dynamic.

also - to get back to the religious thing - it is definitely true that the fandom villianises religion more so than it uplifts the characters who are positively religious (bill, charlotte, etc), and this is an issue, i personally would love to see some positive religious analyses of these characters - thats probably a side rant for another day - but. that doesnt mean that the chastities arent a representation of Real issues within certain christian groups. people act like this. this is a thing that happens. and it is genuinely making me so concerned seeing people brush this behaviour off as "just because of their religion" instead of. unhealthy and borderline abusive behaviour (which it is) (as ive seen someone say, purity culture is INHERENTLY dangerous and sexist, it doesnt matter why its being perpetuated), please guys have some critical thinking. stop treating this behaviour as normal its NOT 😭😭😭 actually scared for some of you guys

(i may be misreading the situation, if i am lmk, but the few posts ive seen about this have left a bad taste in my mouth. "be normal about religious characters" yes but. this shit is not normal. stop normalising this. please for the love of god.) - 💾

~~~

[alchemical-astrology]

🍁 Mars Moon Aspects

Just some Mars moon aspects and predictions as the potential interactions of these two planets intrigued me. May or may not ring true

Mars trine moon ★ Mars conjunct moon ★ Mars square moon ★ Mars opposition moon

Interesting observations:

• those with mars aspect the moon in any way may have some sort of physical aspect to their emotions, and at it's most basic level this can look like physical expression of emotion e.g. hugging, 'glomping', but also throwing things when angry, etc. at another level physical expression of emotions can mean drawing, playing an instrument, or dancing.

• they may do a contact sport such as a martial art or rugby.

• may have their emotions very affected by the natural world. Mars doesn't just affect people, all planets also affect nature and the world around us. Places ruled by mars can include cities, electrically active areas e.g. near power lines, transportation like an underground, metro, or Subway, or so on. Mars moon aspects can feel better or worse in their emotions depending on WHERE THEY ARE in the world.

♣︎ Mars square moon may find places with lots of people loud and overwhelming, they may feel better indoors or outdoors but either way this will be in an environment that isn't built up.

♣︎ Mars conjunct moon may find people tell them they dominate the room emotionally. may express their emotions without meaning it.

♣︎ Mars opposition moon may really need peace and quiet to feel like themselves.

♣︎ Mars trine moon may feel like they best express emotions outwardly and this can give them wanderlust, turning them into digital nomads or other creatives who seek out busy environments to inspire them. Think of an artist who gets their best ideas when they sre walking around or travelling on the tube, or a writer who sits in a coffee shop to people watch.

• unfortunately mars moon aspects of all kinds can be prone to being misread by others around them, such as in the case of 'resting b*tch face'

Mars Moon Aspects and Betrayal

This does not necessarily refer to the 'beware the ides of march' style betrayals that were common throughout history BUT this is a great combination of planets to study if you want to write a villanous noble or game of thrones style court intrigue.

In the modern world it can look like:

• mars trine moon may find themselves leaving others behind through their success. whilst nor a betrayal per se, it can be a tough situation to be involved in

• mars opposition moon may find it easier to ghost than face a direct confrontation with people

• mars square moon may come across as too blunt and too confrontational, on the other hand. This can lead to friends and coworkers abandoning them.

• mars conjunct moon may wear their heart on their sleeve and find themselves oblivious to the more subtle signs that people may be overwhelmed by their expressions of feelings or opinions

• depending on the other parts of their chart mars square or opposition moon may find it hard to express their true feelings and may leave friends or lovers as a result.

• In terms of true betrayal mars conjunct moon is most able to be a double agent or live a double life because of their emotional assertiveness even when lying. These people are not insecure at all. They are in fsct very good at using emotions to get what they want.

Your mileage may vary! However I was simply intrigued by how these two planets may interact and so these are predictions only as to patterns and trends that may be found based off a smidgen of observation as well although i don't actually know that many people with this aspect🥀

if you enjoyed check out my pluto observations post here.

[variousqueerthings]

okokok so because i was taking all these darn notes while watching s1 of due south I feel like I should share some of my favourite ones.

the full list went like this:

fraser gets hurt/puts himself in danger

some fraser quirks

fraser is kind

ray does things for fraser/is emotionally affected by fraser

fraser's guilt/shame/lack of introspection

magical realism

things they do together casually

institutions/organisations are callous/uncaring/corrupt

every time fraser is uncomfortably hit on/doesn't realise flirting is a thing

bob fraser and benton fraser

ray family lore

ray is a good investigator

misc notes

can't claim i caught every moment, but certainly... Patterns 👀

SO: JUMPING TO NINE JUST FOR THE HECK OF IT: every time fraser is uncomfortably hit on/doesn’t realise flirting is a thing

an accurate depiction of fraser's daily life

NOTHING IN EPISODE ONE

- EPISODE ONE: FREE WILLIE

- - - - hit on twice within moments of each other: Elaine: I should probably have your number just in… case Fraser: oh uh, I don’t- Ray: he uses smoke signals FC: I like your dog Fraser: he’s white FC: call me Fraser: ??????? (walks into a door) - EPISODE TWO: DIEFENBAKER’S DAY OFF

- - - - gets hit on by the female reporter, although she is technically trying to play him: "you see I can’t I… have a dog [bring the suit, leave the dog] … oh dear" - - - - later on tries to talk some courage into himself, while also pointing out that he can't cancel because he doesn't know who she is - EPISODE THREE: MANHUNT

- - - - WHILE he’s in hospital/getting his leg wrapped up, by the nurse - - - - note: also oblivious to Elaine, the other cop, and Julie all being into him (it is often unclear if Fraser uses "obliviousness" as a way of getting out of these situations) - EPISODE FOUR: THEY EAT HORSES

- - - - doesn’t know what a “come-on” is and everyone assumes he’s into her, even though he’s constantly just being very literal - - - - she asks him out on a date and he assumes (or gently brushes it off) as “to discuss testimony” - EPISODE FIVE: PIZZAS

- - - - the wife of the car salesman blatantly hits on him and he doesn’t realise - - - - woman wanting “test drives” with him, doesn’t realise until later it may be about more than test driving - - - - doesn’t realise he “asked out” frannie - - - - forces fraser on a date with her during a stakeout

NOTHING IN EPISODE SIX ALTHOUGH ELAINE DOES COMPLAIN TO DIEFENBAKER THAT FRASER SEEMS OBLIVIOUS

- EPISODE SEVEN/EIGHT: CHICAGO

- - - - is hit on multiple times at the BDSM club and doesn’t notice it happening once (also misread as a dom) - - - - DOES potentially see a dick and is shocked/mortified

- - - - elaine very obviously suggests that she wants fraser to ask her out (can’t keep someone waiting forever) and while everyone else (ray and christina) knows what she means, fraser simply says “no, that would be unfair” - - - - elaine in this scene is also unconsciously using fraser’s face for the ID, something ray notices - - - - doesn’t understand that one of the club-goers is hitting on him when he borrows handcuffs off her - EPISODE NINE: COP BABY MOUNTIE

- - - - all the waitresses surrounding him when he has the baby and aren’t interested in the baby – he doesn’t get it, but ray does (and is frustrated) - - - - the mailwoman chuckles about how she ought to get fraser to babysit for her NOTHING IN EPISODE TEN (?)

- EPISODE ELEVEN: REMEMBER

- - - - elaine asks fraser how refurbishing his apt is going, then presses on what he does at night with his new lamp and what he’s reading on his own... - - – - interesting alt direction, ray asks fraser “what do Mounties know about women?” in a dismissive way, not knowing about his past with victoria. This whole episode is very interesting in terms of “romantic love” with fraser seeming to look for cues from ray as to whether that connection could be deemed romantic: huey thinks the whole thing is a bit silly/probably quite pragmatic, and says it could be anyone, and louis has mainly had a string of relationships that didn't work out and is feeling a bit sad about it although he does add the "see, talk is bad, you talk and then before you know it you're married," which leads to ray's next Big Speech, and RAY!!!!! well ray is in the midst of coup de foudre as it were ("Right, and then what, what about love???"), he's adamant and clear and precise-ish about his opinions. also he's ray so ofc fraser would listen to him the most ray statements that we know fraser takes in because the script and/or camera makes sure to indicate he's actively listening: - - - - you just know when someone is the right woman for you and it can be connected to a near life-or-death experience even if you know nothing about one another - - - - you have to have that moment in your life when you know nothing will never ever be the same again" <- that does describe victoria (he doubles down on the "just knowing" idea when fraser asks "how do you know?") - - - - REAL love shouldn't be "prudent" -- "nobody who's prudent has any business being in love" (uh-oh) - - - - "you only meet the woman of your dreams once" -- he says this almost to himself at the window and when he does, the camera which was on fraser in the foreground paying attention to hewey, softens onto ray as fraser turns his head to listen in - - - - fraser points out that ray's love interest who may be a criminal missed him on purpose and ray is like "gasp this means!!! i knew it! she's into me!" (but in a sweeter way) and fraser says well now hold on, you've only known her a few seconds whilst concussed, which ray dismisses and goes "it doesn't matter if it's ten seconds or ten years, chemistry is chemistry" and he Knows her - funny that FRASER tries to get him to calm down and ray constantly dismisses him with things like "I mean how many times in a lifetime does this happen, has it ever happened to you (because he was sleeping when fraser told the story about victoria)" and then while fraser is stuttering he interrupts and goes "ofc not you're a mountie, what do mounties know about women" - - - - in this case special agent susanne is lying the Entire time, and there's a big rug-pull at the end just like with victoria, but it's in the other direction (that she's undercover). - - - - connected also: "she left me but she left me for the right reason. she loves me "but she's gone." "but that's what's right for us..." "but you might never see each other again" "that's what we need, ridiculous odds and just the speck of hope that someday we'll beat them" "i cant say i understand"

- EPISODE TWELVE: HAWK

- - - - the pathologist drives diefenbaker home because she thinks fraser is hot/charming – he may have been counting on it, unclear

- EPISODE THIRTEEN: EYE FOR AN EYE

- - - - all the old women want to patrol with fraser

- EPISODE FOURTEEN: THE MAN WHO KNEW

- - - - a random hot woman in a car asks fraser to get in and go to miami with her. Fraser is mildly perturbed and also confused about the logistics of how a young woman could possibly be known by only her first name in such a large city

- EPISODE FIFTEEN: THE WILD BUNCH

- - - - gets hit on by the woman who owns Maggie at the end. a gentle geeentle soft no

- EPISODE SIXTEEN: THE BLUE LINE

- - - - slightly to the left but mark’s publicist is desperate to sign him and he isn’t into the idea

- EPISODE SEVENTEEN: THE DEAL

- - - - many women join the church choir just to shoot their shot. He remains steadfastly earnestly “oblivious” until francesca arrives, then sings louder and louder to drown her out, then jumps off a balcony to escape her when she utters the word “sex” - - - - flirted with in the lingerie shop and can only blink (ray gives him a fortifying pat on the back) - - - - on the flipside ray is truly SHOCKED at how fraser can get away with looking closely at the “fine stitching” - - - - several women, old, young, cis, and trans are very happy for fraser to look closely at their shoes - - - - elaine patches him up and is very happy about it, although fraser isn’t tooo thrilled about her slightly-too-friendly bedside manner - - - - when frannie arrives in a sexy outfit he is. terrified

NOTHING IN EPISODE EIGHTEEN I THINK (i switched invitation and heaven and earth) BUT THIS IS THE EPISODE WHERE WE GET SOME CORE FRASER EVASION TECHNIQUES (or do we) -- WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT HOW PUNTING THE "ISSUE OF FRANNIE" ONTO RAY MEANS THAT HE DOESN'T HAVE TO LET HER DOWN BUT CAN HAVE RAY DO IT FOR HIM........ - EPISODE NINETEEN: INVITATION

- - - - the secretary is clearly into him - - - - so is the woman in the queue at the post office - - - - the woman in the post office shoots her shot and fraser doesn’t bite - - - - the woman in the bridal shop who asks if she can “help” fraser – he is confused about how she could help him if she doesn’t work there - - – this whole episode is one big romantic farce/screwball comedy in which fraser desperately wants to escape, especially during the honeymoon suite scene - - - nonono that’s you and me, come on think – what is the most unglamorous, unromantic place you could take a woman? AW CMON THE GARBAGE TRUCK NOT EVEN FRASER’S THAT- HOLD ON BENNY!!!!! - - - - what is wrong with you ??? a man is trying to kill you! You’re supposed to hate him! A woman throws herself at you, you’re supposed to… you’re supposed to do something. - - - - I thought I was in love once…. (it’s easier to think you’re in love, than it is to admit you’re alone) --- GENERALLY this episode has some very interesting ideas about “love” and “romance” especially as related to fraser - EPISODE TWENTY/TWENTY-ONE: VICTORIA’S SECRE

- - - - SO OKAY THE THING IS! MOST OF WHAT I PUT OF THIS EPISODE IS IN A DIFFERENT POINT (fraser's guilt/shame/lack of introspection) BECAUSE VICTORIA HAS HIM WRAPPED AROUND HER FINGER -- HE'S MORE OBLIVIOUS TO HER INTENTIONS THAN TO THE FACT THAT SHE VERY LITERALLY WANTS TO SLEEP WITH HIM. does fraser know what's making him sleep with her? that's another question

(also see for episode "you must remember this")

- EPISODE TWENTY-TWO: LETTING GO

- - - - is incredibly uncomfortable about being touched by the physiotherapist and babbles facts to get over the discomfort. this is kind of played as her not trying to "hit on" him per se, but the touching itself is too much on its own – - - - she clearly does want to get with him, but keeps it juuuuuuust this side of unprofessional (in a TV sense)

NOTES ABOUT ALL OF THIS: in the not-knowing when fraser is genuinely unaware of being hit on, and when he uses that reputation as a way to avoid confrontation, something is said about fraser's issues with interpersonal conflict. he can do things for the greater good and be resolute in his ideals, but when it comes to himself he can struggle with being honest. he doesn't want to let anyone down, is one of his big problems

[amphiptere-art]

Tonight one of our kings betrayed us. Although I am uncertain if my other guards are telling the truth.

The king that stayed seems disheveled. For it was their sister that left. And while the guards say that their sister betrayed them, I am uncertain. The king seems upset. I have no knowledge of what happened beforehand. Nor do I have any knowledge of what was said between my other guards as they chased the sister.

But I believe My fellow guards in their haste misread the situation. Siblings argue all the time. The king had been discussing ways to get the dragons to treat us fairly. As as much as Shadows kindness has put a bullet through their understanding it has not changed it. The king had discussed fighting the light dragons. As far as I understand it is only to them and no one else.

But I can imagine his sister to be disagreeing of it. While some might call it heresy for the once king to disagree with their sibling. She was always a kind one. She had a blind hope that things would change naturally, and not by force. She had a great fear of the demon of our past. I do not think the kings appearance would have helped if a scuffle broke out between the topic.

The king has been quiet. Our only orders are that if we see her, to restrain her and bring her back. He has not given anything else to follow. I believe it has opened a gateway for rumors to spread around. The guards that were actually there I believe are not helping. Some are saying she is to be exiled for her treacherous act. Others simply think she will be held until the war is over. I believe the King simply just wants there sibling back.

Either way the orders are to bring her back. I do not know what she could have run without being seen though. She is quite unique in her appearance. But she has avoided us so far. So the war goes on. We are setting out tonight for our first attack. The king is attempting their best to only fight those who are with the light dragon king. There are many light dragon cities that we are not to touch.

As much as I do believe in his idea. I am unsure if this is the way to fix it. We were already demonized, And it took our Great King Shadow quite some time to fix it. I fear his actions here will ruin what has been conquered so far. But I understand the reasoning. We are only to attack when attacked. Only to fight the light dragons, and the ones most prominently that fight with the light dragon king. I pray that it will not sour our appearance to the other kings. But the simply is no other way.

In some way or form we need the wretched King that banished just to the outlands in the first place to be gone. He is the one that perpetuates the rumors and still holds the highest power over the council. Honestly to some point I wish the council had never been erected. But there is nothing I can do the change the war that will start soon.

To the great God of history. Alvis the ancient One. I dedicate this journal entry to your library. I hope that when I fall into Eternata's grasp, this shall be used to better the times after. War is a fickle thing. So may my memory be burned forever in your eternal library where decay cannot reach.

Journal log date 67013/7/23

Thank you for your entry Calvin thly dehard. I shall add this to the section of the siblings war. Your word shall be remembered even long past this stories end.

[rainbowsky]

hihi rainbow!

love your blog– it's the first one about bjyx i came across, and the one that made me a turtle!

i was wondering about the ybo situation, is their change in attitude sudden? it seems like just yesterday that they were kadian-ing too... have you noticed any signs about this change? ×as wondering if you'd seen it coming at all, if maybe you'd noticed any signs?

have a awesome day,!!

Hi new turtle! 💛🐢💛

Thanks for your kind words, I'm glad you're enjoying my blog. 😊

I have already posted quite a bit about this topic.

Main background post

Are turtles misreading what LRLG meant by their post?

Did DD choose these changes?

YBO and the photoshopped images

The removal of CQL from DD's bio

Why we shouldn't panic

As I mentioned in the post about the photoshopped sleeve, it's possible YBO is still an ally. They may be working with DD to try to keep a balance between making turtles happy and making solos happy. We shouldn't assume that they're against us now. The photoshopping might have been a way to draw attention to the kadian while still having plausible deniability for solos.

They're DD's team, they've always been an ally in the past. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt.

And let's try to focus on GG and DD rather than all this mess. They are why we're here in the first place. Let's focus on what brings us joy rather than wallowing in worries.

As a new turtle you might also find my masterlist post helpful (although I'm VERY far behind on updating it).

[cantsayidont]

January 1985. Oh dear. This miniseries … where even to begin. First, an important clarification: The Batman in question is the Golden Age Batman, who lived on Earth-2 and died in ADVENTURE COMICS #462; this isn't an Imaginary Story, although it does take place on a different parallel world than most other Bronze Age DC comics. As for the premise, it's spelled out in more detail on the splash page:

While obviously shocking, this premise may seem a bit less outlandish if you understand that it's riffing on a topical reference. About a year before this series was written, there was a much-publicized scandal involving the West German magazine STERN purchasing a series of purported diaries of Adolf Hitler (for a huge amount of money — 9.3 million marks), which turned out to be forgeries. This was international headline news, and so that whole mess was still in recent memory when this series was developed.

In this story, Roy and Dann Thomas take that inspiration in a rather different direction: The Batman diary is freely presented to the Daily Star, Clark Kent's paper, by an unimpeachable source, and Clark himself recognizes that the handwriting is Bruce Wayne's. So, the central question is not whether the diary is genuine, but why Batman would seek to posthumously slander his old comrades, and whether the JSA can prove their innocence. To add spice to the mix, the situation drives a wedge between Batman's daughter, Helena Wayne, and Bruce's former ward, Earth-2's Dick Grayson.

Unfortunately, this provocative premise becomes little more than a framing device for one of Roy Thomas's continuity-recapping exercises, giving the JSA a pretense to recount all of their adventures up to that point. In the pre-Internet age, this had some value (particularly thanks to the comprehensive annotations, which the 2015 trade paperback inexplicably omits), but most of it is not especially germane to the actual charges, and even moments like the Spectre threatening to cast the Earth into the sun don't spare it from feeling like a sitcom clip show. Worse, the whole plot hinges on Thomas having either misread or misremembered pivotal details of Bruce Wayne's appearances in the revived ALL-STAR COMICS in the '70s, so his eventual explanation contradicts what's actually in the stories he's referencing.

The finale (whose cover references ALL-STAR COMICS #35) has Dick Grayson discovering that the diary was Bruce's extremely convoluted attempt to alert the JSA to the return of one of their old enemies, the time-traveling would-be world conqueror Per Degaton. This makes no sense at all (there's no connection between the accusations in the diary and Per Degaton), so it's left to Helena Wayne to paper over the plot holes by explaining that her father had terminal cancer (implicitly some kind of brain tumor, though it's not specified) that made him irrational and paranoid in his final months. Ouch! The JSA doesn't exactly prove their innocence, although everyone claps and cheers about their testimony about all the cool things they've done, which is apparently good enough for Congress. Degaton's fate is cleverly handled and unexpectedly final, but it doesn't entirely make up for the plodding history lectures.

If you don't know anything about the JSA's pre-Crisis history, this is still a decent place to start, although it would be much more useful in that respect if the compilation had included the annotations. (The original versions had some errors, many of which Thomas subsequently corrected elsewhere, but I assume Thomas could have been persuaded to do a corrected list for the compilation.) However, don't expect it to be a good or even very coherent story.

[ellieaelious]

Quick facts until I do the thing and have enough time to finish bios 💙

Main!Verse Ellie is 5k+ years old, and most of that time has been spent on the battlefield. Time works differently in the Realms, so she was still born in the 80s.

Ellie breaths through her skin on her abdomen. Instead of lungs she has thing membrane sacks attached under her skin.

She also has three pheromone vents on each side of her abdominal muscles that can intake air as well.

Technology from the Realms is highly advanced. Because of how time operates, they've basically had trillions of years if not longer to advance. They also don't have civil wars or inward fighting preventing their technological advancements.

Ellie is deaf! She'll often click her tongue, clack her teeth, snap, and clink her jewelry while talking. This is how Scorpious, a spevies of the Realms that are also naturally dead, communicate with one another. It's become her default language. Her HUD lenses will also give her subtitles or make vibrations more visible so she can see what people are saying.

Despite her prowess on the battlefield, Ellie is still a medic/healer and is able to perform sterile surgeries on site. She also uses her energy to heal beings.

She's actually a pacifist and would prefer to talk things out. When that doesn't seem to work, she will settle things with a fight.

Big gay. Takes a much longer time to develop feelings for male presenting beings.

Sanctified Virgin, although unwillingly. She won't get your sexual innuendo or that you're hitting on her, but may misread and situation and kiss you then feel instant guilt. (This means forbidden love tropes are 👀)

Commands air and fire, but rarely uses fire. Weak to water and electricity.

She's like 5'3 and has the build of a weightlifter. I repeat, despite the FC she is not small and dainty. She is jacked boiii

Has a pet chimera, the last chimera of her world. It's extremely protective of her.

Usually hangs out with Scorpious soldiers, who are 7' tall and jacked. They're all goofballs.

Will cry but you'll rarely see it.

Cannot lie. Completely incapable of being dishonest. Do with that what you will.

[oathofpromises]

Hiroto glanced away, his face flushing slightly. He had misread Kijin's meaning and come off seeming like a complete moron. As soon as he heard the news of a head injury, he quickly shifted his attention to the other. He abruptly stood up, and his mind blanked.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Hiroto's demeanor, though potentially misconstrued as an expression of anger, was in truth rooted in a deep sense of of concern. As he gingerly extended his hands towards the injured head, a soft, ethereal glow began to emanate from his fingertips, casting a mesmerizing shade of green.Naturally, X'kijin hadn't said anything at first; he was too preoccupied making sure everyone else survived. It was similar to how Kuri, his mother, and Stella behaved as healers. It was their mission to guarantee that everyone made it out okay too, although that occasionally forced them to disregard their own wounds too.

"Oh, my Viper training? Thanks. Before I was taken away, my father taught me the basics. I resumed my training in Tural. But how does that feel? I'm no white mage like my sister or yourself, but I did learn some healing."

The Miqo'te with the white hair took a moment to stop; his brief confession of feelings was most likely ineffective and only served to confuse X'kijin. How could he explain it without burdening the other? Normally, he had no trouble communicating such things, but when it came to his personal emotions, it was a sensitive matter.

"I…please disregard what I said. I took the wrong meaning from your words. It's simply that in the past, people have despised me. For the sake of clarity, let me show." Silently, Hiroto slipped his shirt over his head. He took a long breath, unsure of how X'kijin might respond. Even displaying him those scars made the viper feel extremely exposed and vulnerable. Slowly, he turned his back on the other, his entire back covered in scars. Some are deeper and more jagged than others. Hiroto drew a big breath as the anguish from earlier ached through each one.

"I confessed to you that I was abused when I was a child, but I did not elaborate on the nature of my torment. Every night, I was chained. I was subjected to having knives and a variety of other implements driven repeatedly into my back as part of my punishment. It was so bad some nights I passed out. The reason I am letting you see this is because I have faith in you and want you to know me for who I really am. Not the persona I present to the world. The walls that I constructed to try to keep my own heart secure, or at least what is left of them, You know, I loved someone a very long time ago. I thought he cared, but in the end, he divulged my innermost secret to others around me. So my living horror began."

Hiroto slowly swung around to face X'kijin, grabbing the other man's hand and pulling it to his chest. His fast heartbeat belies his otherwise cool demeanor.

"I know you don't despise me… I have trouble reading people at times. It's partly because of how I was betrayed years ago. It's strange, but I miss how it felt to be cared for by another person. Even if it was all a ruse back then, I may have appeared confident, but the truth is that I'm not always sure who to trust or who to believe. I suppose you might call it my internal terror. One thing I do know is that our time together is always enjoyable. That's what I meant."

There was more to it than that, but Hiroto wasn't certain whether he was ready to share his actual sentiments just yet. The situation was more complicated than that. He wished to spend some time getting to know Kijin. To make greater use of the time they shared, and he was also familiar with their pasts. At least, that's what he'd revealed, and the last thing Hiroto wanted was for the white mage to think was that this was just a fling.Hiroto was serious, or at least what his heart would allow him to feel currently.

He groaned quietly as he felt X'kijin’s palm extend and begin to lightly trace some of the scars. He didn't say anything at first, most likely because he was appalled by the sight or simply astounded by how much Hiroto had gone through. The gentle fingertips felt warm once again as the ache appeared to fade.

He emitted a subdued groan while feeling X'kijin’s palm delicately tracing the scars. Initially, the other refrained from making any remarks, possibly due to his apparent shock or perhaps his surprise at the extent of Hiroto's injuries. The gentle touch of fingertips elicited a comforting warmth, and suddenly the ache that was there moments ago was temporally subsided.

"I realize it's not pretty to look at. Very few people have seen my back… You've probably seen that I've excused myself from supper on few occasions. Reason being, I start to get severe back pain. White magic, according to the physicians, can momentarily reduce the agony, but it will always be there. A constant reminder of the people who were supposed to keep me safe ended up giving me nothing but anguish."

Hiroto felt himself bit his bottom lip, as there was an exact reason why they had treated him so horribly, but he wasn't sure how X'kijin would take such a revolution. Gently, he leaned his forehead down and pressed it against the others. The viper hands shaking a bit, as he willed himself to reveal the secret that he had kept buried for years. Anyone that really knew Hiroto though could honestly tell that he was gay. It wasn't a shocker, nor should it have been something that was seen as a curse. He hated how he had lived with it in secret for so long that even telling someone he cared about was hard.

"They hated me because of my preference. It might be quite obvious, but I tend to like men a lot more than women. They hated the thought of the next possible tribe leader being unable to give them more kids, so they used the torture as a means to try and fix me..."

It hurt, and for years Hiroto had tried to convince himself that they would eventually give up on torturing him, yet it seemed like they were determined to try and get him to become the next leader. Even if that was the last thing that Hiroto wanted, Why lead a tribe that had sent him away from their home? To be treated like some sort of outcast and seen as some curse for merely feeling a more intimate connection with men.

"X'kijin...I..." He whispered, as he started to lean closer but stopped. The mage was so kind to him, had never judged for his past and they had even bonded over some shared trauma. The last thing he wanted was to ruin what they had. To make the other feel like this was just temporarily thing because it wasn't. Hiroto cared so deeply, but voicing those thoughts truly scared him.

Gently, Hiroto moved some hair out of X'kijin’s face, taking a moment to just memorize how beautiful he truly was. The way he spoke was like a gentle melody lingering inside the Viper’s heart. He changed everything, and the thought that this might be the one to break down all the walls Hiroto has built was both exciting and scary at the same time. It left the older Caelum confused and unsure how to explain all the emotions he thought had faded years ago.

Can I truly open my heart back up? To let someone in and see all of who I am...To trust that they won't abandon me again. I want to... I want to be by his side in whatever form he will allow…even if it’s only as friends.

It was out of the ordinary for X'kijin Lyzej. Typically, he didn't find himself so... invested in other people, something that was made obvious by the way he'd kept even a vast majority of the Scions at arms' length. Yet he'd been... undeniably distracted as of late, a byproduct of his meeting a man that he felt an odd sort of kinship with.

The way reddish eyes started back at him, he couldn't help but think—wonder, assume—that there was an understanding there, of the issues that X'kijin struggled with, though neither had discussed their pasts near enough to know for sure if that was an accurate assessment.

What was stranger than X'kijin's unusual attachment was him stopping to seek out the object of his... the... the person that had grabbed his attention.

His hand touched Hiroto's back, a little more forward than he would normally be in an attempt to grab someone's attention, but the unexplainable interest, the hard-to-describe draw tempted him too much.

X'kijin should know better, he realized by the way Hiroto tensed against the brief touch. How many times had he wished the same that someone would announce their presence first? Women, most especially.

But if he'd taken offence to the gesture, Hiroto does not say as much. Instead, he asked after if he'd not slept well. And X'kijin... hadn't. Or rather, he'd slept less than usual, but that was not quite what he'd said.

No, he voiced another thought, that the man had been stuck in his head. It almost made him uncomfortable, the way he had lived in his thoughts these past few weeks. The few months they'd known each other wasn't enough to be this invested... was it?

The words came easily and X'kijin watched the tilt of Hiroto's head before the flick of his ears caught his eyes as he tried to ignore the smile—he tried, he tried, he really did.

It's when he spoke that X'kijin realized how poorly he might have worded it.

"You're not the first to say something like that."

Oh.

The joke seemed genuine enough, but something... something wasn't right still. Fingers clenched into the sand and when Hiroto spoke again, it was obvious then how he'd taken his words.

X'kijin had always struggled. Struggled with words because he couldn't read, warred with feelings because he'd never learned to express them. More often than not, he thought how he felt obvious. How long had it taken him, after all, to realize that many women viewed his fear as just another type of hatred?

But Hiroto spoke, an accidental confession of... something in the letters he strung together. Couldn't stop thinking about him, made him question, plagued by emotions, reminded of feeling—

What emotions, X'kijin wanted to ask, though he couldn't rightly do so without first explaining what he'd meant. What feelings?

"I, uh—" Awkwardness turned his tongue to sandpaper, like an ordinary housecat's. "I actually meant..."

A pause and his tail lashed, fueled by the embarrassment of the misunderstanding. He hadn't meant to sound so... How had he sounded, exactly? Like he didn't like him? Like he hated him? Something else?

Hiroto had certainly interpreted it as hatred, no matter how he'd sounded, no matter the way Hiroto had tried to joke initially.

"In that last fight we were in, I kinda... got hit."

A bit stupid, considering he was the godsdamned healer, but he hadn't bothered to mention it. And how was he supposed to? Apologize for his mind wandering, for staring, for being a little too captivated, for worrying?

"I was busy admiring your..." A pause, awkward from the subject matter and the way he'd botched what could have been a relatively nice conversation. "... Swordsmanship?"

Did a Viper count as a swordsman? He wasn't sure, but it was better than the truth. Maybe.

"I just... used a bit too much aether to make sure it was healed," he said, finally managing to explain why he looked so tired. He'd waited too long to heal it, had needed to expend more aether to actual heal it than it would have been to do so immediately. But he'd been focused on other things, like Hiroto and the others that had been with him.

"I don't hate you..."

He paused, eyes locked on Hiroto's own before he gently tried, "... Why would I hate you?"

[eldritch-bf]

Hyper-specific advice because I don’t see enough of this!

make your characters have inaccurate perceptions of themselves. your character might think they’re selfish but at every opportunity they act selfless. we all have blind spots so give these to your characters too! (this works best with first person pov but I’m sure you can do it in third.)

make a character’s personality trait helpful sometimes and harmful other times. impulsivity that makes them act quickly in high-stress situations which is great but it also sometimes results in the wrong choices.

make an excel/google sheets doc for your outline. for mine i have the chapter number, the date, the character pov (since mine is first person and switches between 5 characters), a summary column, and a continuity column. my story takes place in one setting but most stories have multiple locations, so you could include a column for that, the time of day, even the moon phase (one of my wips is from the perspective of animals so that is super important for that story).

you can also use excel/sheets for keeping track of your conlang. for my animal wip i have constructed a language called Vannro and I have 300 some-odd entries into my excel doc. i have columns for the Vannro word, the English translation, etymology and derived words (for some), the part of speech, and the subject. you can easily sort in alphabetical either in English or your conlang, and also sort by excluding all entries that aren’t under the subject “derogatory” or “places” etc. I always forget what my “be” verbs are so I sort through the part of speech column so I can find “is” “was” “are” etc.

use perspective to create tension for your reader. for example, in The Blackwater Anomaly in a chapter from Rainer’s pov, we experience his nightmare, however in a later chapter from Holly’s pov, when she asks him directly, he lies and says he hasn’t experienced any nightmares. Holly doesn’t know he is lying but the audience does. I also have characters who do not get chapters from their perspective, who may or may not be lying, and so both the audience and the characters experience that anxiety and uncertainty together.

consider using deep pov. you can read some articles about it but essentially you make the audience experience the story at the same time as the character and it makes your narration more active. this can also be done in third person. this has a lot to do with “show don’t tell” (although sometimes its better to just tell). remove some “telling” words like “thought/felt/saw” and just get directly into what’s happening. instead of “Ava saw a shadow fall across her shoulder” make it “a shadow fell across her shoulder”. your reader will know who you’re talking about. this even jumps into the unreliable narrator when you change “I felt like Isaiah was blowing me off” to “Isaiah blew me off.” the former has room for doubt and makes your character seem weaker. if she thinks she’s being blown off and she’s pissed about it, make her say that! you have to make the audience believe it’s true, it makes them more invested in the character’s experiences and emotions. and then if they later find out Isaiah wasn’t really blowing them off, there was an emergency or something, both the character and the audience can feel regretful together over misreading the situation and being pissed at Isaiah. if you leave room for doubt, then your reader will just feel unsurprised during the reveal and frustrated at your character for being stupid up until then.

you don’t have to “show” everything. sometimes there’s boring parts of a narrative that no one really cares about. you can either make a break in the text to show a time skip happened when your character was driving from point a to point b or you can give a paragraph or two about the drive, just telling what happened, even include an accident on the side of the road or an unexpected and frustrating road closure. its a very mundane and relatable aspect in our lives and we don’t need to be “shown” these, we can just be told. summarize the nonessential by telling or just skip it.

[gulava]

So I’m sure we’ve discussed how attentive Riku is in BBS to Sora in the past and I think we should discuss Sora’s reactions to Aqua and Terra respectively.

Although Sora may laugh it off in embarrassment (which is truly the concerning aspect if you ask me...he’s mask up until he realizes Aqua is genuine...), Aqua’s jump down startles him, leaving us to see Riku almost studying the situation like he’s taking notes in his head, paying close attention to Sora’s mood along with Aqua’s behavior and giving Sora little smiles to help soothe his worries.

Note: This takes place AFTER they meet Terra so Sora is definitely more calm around strangers after Riku spoke to Terra and reassures Sora. Just ended up discussing the other one first, my bad!

(A small subtle moment that can be brushed aside as simply sudden but with the idea of Sora was probably abused on the table...it changes things.)

(Riku tries to get a read on the situation because Sora seems unsettled.)

(His body language is making me sad lol)

(Riku smiles at Sora a few times in this cutscene to reassure him but drops it fast when he looks back to Aqua to continue studying the situation so it’s pretty easy to miss any of them sadly)

(BTW bless you Aqua for getting on their height level!!!!!!!)

(Riku: Sora...protect me? But I’m supposed to protect him or at least make sure he can protect himself if I’m not there. He shouldn’t have to worry about me. I’m going to be strong enough so he doesn’t have to worry about that!)

(Sora: Me? Protect Riku? Could I ever even do that? ...Someone like me? Does he even need protecting? He’s so much stronger than me.)

Little do either know here that Riku helping Sora become stronger will one day leave him feeling unneeded and unwanted, rising worries of being abandoned in favor of other people while Sora’s inferiority complex will cause him to misread the original point of their competitions which was to help him gain strength to protect himself and make him cling onto the idea of protecting himself instead of being protected (because he finds it shameful) and protecting someone who actually DOES need him and he doesn’t think Riku is that person, or at least one of the them. But he is.

Now back to BBS! When Terra shows up, you’ll see that Sora very clearly cowers away from Terra and is even shown out of breath from running up the stairs in the background while Riku stops to check Terra out continuing to reveal just how much Riku picks up on. He knows there are other worlds, knows Terra isn’t from this place, knows he wants to leave with Sora, knows he wants to protect Sora, knows he wants Sora to be able to defend himself, and so forth. Kid’s got mad awareness...or something. Especially, in relation to his devotion towards Sora at such a young age.

(Riku walking so Sora will win because he knows Sora loves to play Captain.)

(Sora has noticed Terra...here we go...)

(In this part, you see Sora sticking to the right side as he observes this stranger from afar. It’s reasonable to write this slowdown off as “stranger danger” but...)

(Riku was watching Sora as he walked and then stops walking as Sora reaches the dock and Terra turns. He’s noticed the stranger is looking at him.)

(Time to investigate!)

(Finally, we see Sora shown in the background having finished running until he was out of breathe...could be read as he overdid it to be Captain but...why when Riku doesn’t catch up while he slows down to observe Terra and is clearly walking behind him...?)

(By the end of Terra and Riku’s conversation, Sora has had enough of staying there and has gotten worried about Riku. At this point, Sora’s more sure of Riku’s ability to self-sustain than his own so he believes Riku will be fine without him. He’s the one who needs protecting, after all. ...Right? Anyways, this is probably less memorable to Sora as he ran away pretty quickly and doesn’t meet Terra like Riku does. It’s an unfamiliar situation and he’s uncomfortable. He’s probably not happy that he just let Riku chat with the stranger alone either which is why he stays when Aqua shows up. Maybe.)

A final thought but you may have noticed how my takes on Riku’s attentiveness and goal of protecting Sora also coincides with them competing. That’s because I believe all of that likely started with Riku thinking to himself that Sora needs to be strong too in case Riku isn’t able to be there for him so either he starts playfully suggesting they compete or starts to respond to Sora’s suggestions of playful competing so he knows Sora can keep up at the very least. It truly makes all the toy sword fights, races, and the unconscious passing of the Keyblade only even more natural on top of everything.

[nejibaby]

Small Details

Pairings: Neji x Y/N

Summary: Neji was a man of few words, even more so with you, and when he sees you with Naruto in a compromising position, he has troubles expressing himself.

Word Count: 3.2k

A/N: And I finally managed to finish this! It took me so long! Today, I offer you a flustered Neji... 👀 I hope y’all enjoy it because I may or may not have melted after writing this 😚

✨Photo taken from this post by @yul-is-sparkling ✨

Naruto was finally back after two years of training with Jiraiya. Being one of his closest friends, you were excited to meet him and to see for yourself how much he’s grown.

Naturally, you challenged him to a duel the first time you saw him again. It was kind of your thing with Naruto — competing with each other on who’s faster, stronger, better in ninjutsu, anything really. Mainly because Sasuke, who he often referred to as his rival, would rarely indulge him with such things, and you did. You were both competitive like that.

In no time, you were both alone on the training grounds. You could already tell how drastic his improvements were within the start of the battle.

You were in awe at how the Legendary Sannins could bring out the best in their apprentices. But despite not being trained by them, that didn’t mean you were lagging behind.

In those two years when Sasuke seeked Orochimaru for power, Naruto trained under Jiraiya, and Sakura learned from Tsunade, you were the only one in Team 7 who remained under the supervision of Kakashi sensei.

Kakashi sensei may not be a Legendary Sannin, but he was a formidable shinobi — one of the best during his generation even. However, truthfully, he infuriated you at first, not because of how late he always was — you were pretty used to it to the point that you don’t question him anymore about his whereabouts and he stopped coming up with excuses as to why he was late — but because there were times when he was too laidback.

Sure, there were moments when he was hands-on: teaching you different jutsus, lecturing you about certain concepts, informing you on what you should always look out for, drilling your body past exhaustion, and the like. But more often than not he would be saying something like, “Find it out yourself” or “I can’t exactly tell you how” as he leisurely sits on a tree branch while reading the stupid Icha Icha books.

You were dumbfounded and furious at first but when your initial annoyance subsided and you had adjusted to his teaching style, you flourished.

That’s why you could take on Naruto even after his training with Jiraiya.

What started as a serious duel between you and Naruto was reduced to playful banter the longer the fight dragged on. At one point, both of you would just tease each other while throwing kicks and punches halfheartedly.

Both of you had your guards down. That was a mistake on your part, because just as Naruto aimed to kick your face and you bent over backwards to dodge it, you slipped. You lost your footing all because of a rock situated near your right foot.

It was a rookie mistake.

Naruto was quick to notice that you were falling so he immediately grabbed ahold of your hand. The problem was he failed to pull you back up. So you ended up falling down with him. And somehow, he ended up with his arms on the sides of your head so he wouldn’t crush you as you were underneath him.

You were both shocked. You were just blinking at each other. It took awhile for the two of you to gather your bearings. When you did, you both immediately laughed out loud. Naruto moved his body so he was lying next to you as you both continued laughing your hearts out.

“What the hell was that, Naruto?!” You feigned exasperation. “You wouldn’t be able to save a fly if you tried.”

“At least I wasn’t the one making rookie mistakes like that,” Naruto shot back. “Plus I tried to help, that’s what matters.”

You snorted. “Yeah, right. You could’ve at least focused your chakra on your soles so we didn’t fall!”

“And you could’ve paid attention to your surroundings, Y/N!”

You bickered with each other as you stood up and helped Naruto get up. What the two of you didn’t know was that your boyfriend Neji had watched the whole incident.

Neji wasn’t really the type to get jealous. He’s a very understanding boyfriend. He’s aware that you and Naruto have been best friends even before he met you. He even knew about Naruto’s feelings for Sakura. However, any sane person wouldn’t want to see his significant other beneath someone else, right? Granted, it was an accident, but still… It was such a compromising position to find you in.

He made his appearance as you playfully punched Naruto in the gut.

You instantly noticed him approaching. Your smile widened even more at the sight of your boyfriend. “Neji!” You called, skipping your way towards him. You would’ve tackled him in a hug if Naruto wasn’t around.

He maintained his stoic expression as he greeted, “Y/N. Naruto.”

“Oi Neji, it’s been a while,” Naruto waved.

Neji only gave a curt nod in response.

You asked, “What are you doing here, Neji?” but just as you ended your question, the answer immediately clicked on your mind. “Oh my god, I’m sorry I forgot!”

Over your excitement of Naruto’s arrival, you forgot that it was a Tuesday. Tuesdays were your lunch dates and sparring sessions with Neji.

“It’s okay.”

“Hold on.” you told him and then faced Naruto. “Gotta go, Naruto! Bye!” you said as you grabbed Neji’s hand out of habit.

Neji flushed, not exactly expecting your action, but you didn’t notice because it was something that you’re used to doing, although not in the presence of someone else.

“See you later!” Naruto waved.

When Naruto was out of sight, you dropped Neji’s hand unconsciously. “Sorry, I forgot about lunch. What time is it? Have you eaten?” You asked Neji.

He quickly responded and told you he hasn’t eaten anything yet.

“Well then, let’s go. I’m starving.”

Neji and you walked side by side out of the training grounds.

“So…” you started saying.

Neji stared at you. “Hm?”

“How was your day, baby?”

He cleared his throat and looked away almost instantly. Very rarely would one find Neji flustered, but calling him “baby” always worked. He wasn’t quite used to the endearment and every time you addressed him as such with tenderness laced in your voice, he would blush. You use it all the time just to see his cheeks tinted pink. It was a cute sight.

“What’s wrong?” You playfully asked while trying to get into his line of vision.

He refused to meet your gaze until he regained his composure. When he did, he told you — in an impassive manner — what he had done in the morning before he went out looking for you.

Despite his expressionless face and his rather hushed tone, you listened intently to the words he was saying, the smile on your lips never leaving your face. Neji was a man of few words even until now that you were together so you made sure you paid attention every time he spoke, not wanting his words to go to waste.

He wouldn’t admit it to you but he loved that about you. You would remember even the little details of his stories, which in itself was a big deal considering you tend to forget a lot of things. You treasured his words, sentences, thoughts, ideas and plans, and kept them enclosed in your memory.

Neji loved that you focused on him. You made him feel like he was important and worthy, and that he mattered, in a completely different way than the others’ view of him.

The others only saw him as important because he was an asset both to the Hyuga clan and to Konoha. He only mattered to them because he has the strength and ability to protect them.

But you didn’t see him that way. You saw him as his own person — a man with a brilliant mind, a great moral compass, and a heart of gold. This was further confirmed when you told him that if his circumstances were different — if he was not a Hyuga or even a shinobi — you’d still fall in love with him as long as his character remained the same.

He knew you love him, there was no doubt about that. It was known; it was an irrefutable truth, an indisputable fact. But why did seeing you with Naruto trigger his insecurities that you had previously put to rest?

His mind was reeling, but he tried his hardest to be in the moment with you.

The thing was, he might have misread you a little. Because the attention that you gave him wasn’t solely focused on his words. In actuality, it extended to his actions and mannerisms as well.

This was how you knew that there was something that was bothering Neji today.

Unwelcome thoughts swarmed his mind, leading him to absentmindedly reach out to you. He was walking beside you closer than usual, with his hand on your lower back. While there was no doubt that he was listening to you when it was your turn to tell him about your day with Naruto, he had a faraway, vacant look on his face.

You may have missed the presence of a rock a while ago, but you certainly wouldn’t miss these small details about Neji.

These might come across as something normal for other people, but for someone like you who dedicated a lot of time admiring and memorizing every little detail of the certain Hyuga boy, it was easy to tell that something was on his mind from the way he was taking up a portion of your personal space. Almost as if his own restrictions were non-existent.

Normally, it would’ve been easier to confront him about it, but you were a shinobi, and if there’s something you learned from Kakashi sensei, it was that you have to gather more intel before actually making a move.

But you could only think of one way to confirm if there was something bothering your partner, and it was through his hair.

On regular days, Neji wouldn’t allow anyone to touch his hair, including you. But when there was something that was bothering him, or if he had a particularly rough day, he wouldn’t mind it if you threaded your fingers through his hair. In fact, he wouldn’t admit it, but he preferred it if you did that. It was something that calmed him down.

So while you continued telling him how your day went, you subtly angled your body towards him. Then you tentatively reached for the tips of his hair with your hand that was closest to him. You managed to grab a few strands of his hair between your thumb and index finger. You twisted them between your fingers.

You looked up to him to check if he was bothered by it, but it seemed like he didn’t mind at all. This certainly meant that his mind was elsewhere, despite the fact that he was nodding in the right parts of your speech and even correcting you when you used the wrong word to describe something.

You retracted your hand after coming up with your conclusion. You even stopped talking as you were thinking of what could’ve happened for him to be this distracted. Neji didn’t even notice you stopped talking mid sentence.

Somehow this just felt different from the times he was frustrated or anxious before, and quite frankly, you were worried.

By the time you had both placed orders and seated in a random restaurant, you decided to confront your partner. “So, Neji, baby, are you going to tell me what’s bothering you?”

He choked on nothing after hearing your question. Was he really that easy to read? Or was it easy just because it was you reading him?

He cleared his throat and feigned ignorance, “What are y-you talking about?”

You opted to give him a pointed look instead of a verbal response.

He didn’t stare back, looking anywhere but you. Most times, Neji would face you head on until you conceded; with you, he was comfortable being stubborn and unyielding because it came without repercussions. But today, he wasn’t up for the challenge. And if you looked more closely, he was once again sporting a faint color on his cheeks.

You waited a moment for him to answer, or at least to look back, but it was to no avail. With a sigh, you said, with the softest tone you could muster partnered with a reassuring smile, “Would you let me know when you’re ready, at least?”

Surprisingly, Neji looked at you then. “It’s nothing… It’s just… something silly.”

You gently grabbed a hold of his hand. “Don’t tell me it’s silly, I know it isn’t if it bothers you, baby. You don’t have to tell me now if you aren’t comfortable yet, hmm? Just know I’ll be here to listen to you.” You gave him a genuine smile and a small squeeze to his hand before letting go.

Neji’s eyes hadn’t strayed from then onwards. He had to admit sometimes he would forget how incredibly kindhearted you were, even more so when it came to him. You always made sure he was comfortable. You never forced him into doing or saying things that he wasn’t ready to do or say. You allowed him to make his own decisions and respected them, something that rarely came from being a subordinate of Konoha and a member of the branch family of the Hyuga clan.

Life as a shinobi was sometimes constricting, but you were his breather from all that.

It was your turn to be bashful from his stare. You could feel your face warming up from the unexpected, scrutinizing gaze. “Neji, stop it.”

“What?”

“Stop looking at me like that.”

“Stop being beautiful, then.”

The words that came out of Neji’s lips startled you. It wasn’t everyday he would actually use words to tell you you’re beautiful. The way he expressed his appreciation to your beauty would come in the form of fluttering kisses or gentle brushes on your body parts — coincidentally, or not, on parts where you feel the most insecure about.

Fortunately for you, the food came at the right moment, since you weren’t exactly sure how to respond to his unexpected compliment. You both ate in silence then, occasionally peeking at each other  — almost like how it was when you first started dating each other.

When you were done with lunch, you expected to take the route towards the training grounds like you both usually did, but Neji’s hand has taken solace on your back once again and this time with intent to guide you to a different direction.

You were confused but you followed anyway. “Where are we going?”

“To my place.” A pause. “Is that fine with you?”

“Sure” was all you could say. Admittedly, you were quite tired from the duel you had with Naruto earlier and you didn’t really have enough energy to spar with Neji, considering he never went easy on you.

By the time you had entered his place, he graciously offered his couch to you, as if sensing your exhaustion. You immediately plopped down on his couch after setting aside your footwear by his front door.

“Tired?”

“Very,” you mumbled.

He handed you a glass of water, knowing you weren’t quite fond of tea. He sat down beside you just as you thanked him and sipped on your drink.

Setting aside the glass, you leaned back on the couch, only to be welcomed by Neji’s arms. A small smile automatically crept into your lips from the gesture. You snuggled into him as a reflex.

It was moments like this with Neji that you treasured most. While you enjoyed tagging around with him and the rest of Team Guy on missions, you preferred spending time with him peacefully like this, without the imminent threat of danger looming over your heads. It was rather a rare occurrence, after all, for two shinobis like you both were.

Neji was first to break the comfortable silence. “I saw you with Naruto a while ago.”

“You did? When?” You excitedly asked while trying to pull away from his embrace to look directly to his face. But for some reason, he kept you in place, your cheek pressed to his neck. “Did you see me kick his ass? Like literally.”

“Yes,” he answered flatly. It was a response that sounded so… dry. Usually when you both talked about Naruto, there would be a fondness from his tone. “But… I also saw something else…” he trailed off.

You raked your mind, trying to remember what had happened earlier. Then the memory of falling down flashed on your mind, and suddenly you felt embarrassed for Neji having to witness such a mistake. “Oh no!” You jumped out of his grasp, startling him in the process. “You saw me fall down! That’s so embarrassing!” You covered your face with your palms.

“Well, yes… but—”

You snapped your head at the tone he used. He didn’t sound like he was going to tease you for your mistake, in fact, it kind of sounded like he was worried.

“I’m fine though, if you’re worried,” you offered, assuming he thought you got hurt from the fall.

“I’m glad you are not hurt,” he said. Not long after you noticed him visibly gulping.

You could tell there was something else in his mind, and whatever it was, you had a feeling it might’ve been the thing that was bothering him a while ago. You tried to come up with guesses as to what it could’ve been. As you recalled how the conversation started and considered how he was acting, a plausible answer popped into your mind.

“Are you perhaps… jealous?” You hesitantly asked. He was the first one to initiate this conversation so you were assuming he was ready to talk about it. Despite that though, you didn’t want to force him to talk so you carefully and reluctantly asked him. He was always allowed to drop the topic if he wasn’t comfortable and he knew that.

Neji cleared his throat as soon as the words left your mouth all the while avoiding to meet your eyes once again. “Maybe,” he almost inaudibly said.

You were surprised by his answer. It wasn’t always that Neji got jealous. The only time he was was when a stranger was blatantly hitting on you in front of him while you were on a mission together.

“It did not sit right with me seeing you in an… inappropriate position with someone else.” He explained. The tone he used sounded like the one he used with the Hokage when he was taking responsibility for something that went horribly wrong on a mission.

“Don’t make it sound like it’s wrong,” you said softly as you cupped his face. “You don’t have to feel guilty about feeling jealous. Your feelings are valid.”

The gentleness and warmth in your voice made his heart flutter. If this was a conversation with someone else, he was sure he was going to get teased for feeling this way, but it was with you, and you had always been different.

“I love you, Neji,” you said before you kissed his lips.

It was amazing how the three words you used that preceded his name could easily wipe out the jealousy that had brewed inside him. This was another testament of how well you knew Neji — not only did you know the small details about him, but you also know the right words to ease his worries.

[everythingheard]

beautifulnigtmare​:

jacquetta was not some shrinking flower. she had been the eldest daughter, and the 4th born child in a family of 9. she had always had to make her voice known. she did not like lord rutledge, she knew she had to be polite to him, as she had to be to most of the gentleman. she hated that. they were mostly boring, condescending or both. it was truly unfair. 

still this lord bridgerton was presumptuous, and it bothered her. he was from a very popular and wealthy family, and it did not hurt he was very handsome, but he knew it. acting like he was some dashing hero saving a damsel in distress. he had been nice enough to give her a reason to leave the man behind, but the fact he acted like she needed him, and she should be grateful, was just annoying and put her in a bad mood. 

❝you are right❞ she grited her teeth ❝thank you lord bridgerton.❞ she knew if she was seen as rude, or even impolite, word would spread and it would relfect badly on her son. so while she’d love to tear into the arrogant man, she decided not to. 

Ah — Anthony had made Lady Covington angry. Or perhaps irritated, at the very least. Although she was far from blatant with her vexation ( she withheld her emotions when handling Rutledge earlier just as well ), he had four sisters, and had grown well-versed on discerning when such tensions hung in the air. The question that persisted in his mind was why.

Anthony was nearly tempted to ask, yet he forced back the query. Aside from the fact that she had disguised her feelings on purpose, he would present himself as a proper ass if it turned out that he had misread the situation and was wrong. Before he could muse over the encounter further, he caught sight of his mother across the room, speaking to a young woman she had mentioned to him prior to their arrival and gesturing in his direction. Fantastic.

“Lady Covington, may I have this next dance?” Turning his back on the eyes watching him, he nodded his head to where couples were beginning to gather in preparation for the next song. “I would be honored.”

[markberries]

a l o n e  t i m e┊draco malfoy

ALONE TIME — DRACO MALFOY

info: you and the infamous draco malfoy were always at each other’s throats, so when you’re by yourself planning to prank the irritating slytherin, you take this as an opportunity to finally relieve yourself. but of course, things go a little unexpectedly.

warnings: absolute filth, smut smut smUT !! cursing

genre: SMUT, fluff at the end, enemies to lovers, gryffindor!reader word count: 2400+

a/n: ok so like... i got onto dracotok, and decided to write this. it's been awhile so i hope u enjoy!! btw this isnt edited at all (n if u know me irl, no u dont)

god — you absolutely despised draco malfoy.

he reminded you of why you asked the sorting house to not place you into slytherin; he was rude, a smartass, and an asshole.

everyone knew how much you and draco liked to bicker with each other. it's almost as if he knew what got under your skin, or maybe it was because everything he said gave you the urge to tell him to shut up. he would never stop talking about how you would ruin the school's reputation, being an international student from north america.

honestly, arguing with draco had been a regular thing. maybe a few small pranks here and there, but that was only when he had royally pissed you off (it happens quite often). although you did find draco quite attractive, it was completely overlooked by how much of an arse he was.

you sat in the dining hall with your fellow gryffindor students, harry, hermione, and ron. they were the only ones you really talked to, well in your year at least.

from across the room, you locked eyes with draco. you glared at him, then rolled your eyes, focusing your attention back to your three friends.

"seriously y/n, if you want to ace herbology, you're going to need to listen to me," hermione mutters, continuing to go over notes with you.

"sorry, it's just malfoy has been giving me dirty looks, kind of in the mood to punch him right now," you snort, then feeling hermione flick your forehead shortly after. "come on y/n, you can deal with malfoy later."

"how long have you and malfoy been going at each other?" ron asks, "it feels like it's been decades."

you laugh, "it's only been a year, alright? and it's only because he's such an ass."

"me? an ass?" you hear malfoy emitting from behind you, you could practically hear the arrogance dripping from his voice. you roll your eyes, then turn to look at him.

"listen here malfoy," you hiss, "i swear to god, if you don't fuck off, i will personally, beat the shit out of you."

malfoy laughs, looking back at his friends, than back at you. "looks like the pretty girl has a potty mouth," he says through his laughter.

"get out of here malfoy," harry told draco, and draco only replied with the roll of his eyes.

"whatever, potter. see you guys around, and watch yourself, y/n. you never know what's coming."

malfoy leaves after that, and you groan in annoyance. hermione breathes deeply, feeling the same amount of irritation as you.

"how do you put up with his shenanigans? i cannot stand malfoy," ron states, venom lacing his voice when he says malfoy's name.

"well you know," you sigh, "it just never ends. i get him back for doing something to me, and then he does something even worse after, but i don't mind."

harry looks at you with confusion in his eyes, "what do you mean you don't mind? i would definitely mind."

"well," you pause, glancing at draco who is already glaring at you, "i've been thinking. ever wanted to see draco with red hair?"

"oh my god, y/n no! we'll lose a terrible amount of points!" hermione gasps, closing her notebook to convince you that this would be a big mistake.

"it would be worth it," harry chuckles, imagining how draco would react to having gryffindor's colours among his head.

"harry!" hermione snaps.

"by the way y/n, are you coming to the common room party tonight?" ron asks, but you shake your head. "no, i don't think so. i want to prepare for malfoy's new hair do, but i'm sure you will have fun."

"but y/n! i need you there to survive," hermione begs, she's told you before that she was so excited to have another girl in her friend group, if that's what you can call it. she didn't mind being the only girl with ron and harry, but it was a nice change to have you there.

"i'm sorry hermione, next time, i promise!" you smile, winking at her and tilting your head.

"okay.. just be careful with malfoy, alright?"

—

you sat in bed, reading spells that you could do to make draco's hair red. even if there wasn't a spell, you had red hair dye ready to go.

while you were sitting there by yourself, you couldn't help but realize it had been ages since you were left alone, you were almost always surrounded by people, and that means it's been awhile since you had "relieved" yourself.

i shouldn't let an opportunity go to waste, right? you thought to yourself, fuck it.

you placed the book onto your bedside table and removed your cute little pyjama pants that had penguins on them, discarding them onto the floor and sticking a hand down your black lace underwear.

you brought your fingers to your clit, letting out a mewl. it truly felt so nice to finally be able to touch yourself again, after months of not doing anything.

you slowly trailed your fingers to your folds, collecting the building up wetness. you slid your fingers up and down, rubbing on your clit a little more as well. you slapped your free hand onto your mouth to cover up any loud noises.

you moaned to yourself, shutting your eyes as you played with your little bundle of nerves, before sliding a finger into your pussy swiftly, moaning quietly. lost in the moment, you began thinking of draco, sure he was a douche, but he had a pretty face, and that was good enough for you at the moment.

you imagined what it would feel like for his finger to pump into you like this, how it would feel like for him to call you pet names as you moaned.

you slid another finger in, whimpering even louder as you felt the unforgotten feeling of the knot being formed in your stomach. you imagined how it would feel like for draco to kiss you as he finger fucked you, how it would feel like if he curled his fingers in your pussy as you moaned his name.

"draco.." you whimpered quietly.

"oh love," someone said from the shadows.

you immediately froze, retracting your hand from your panties as you scrambled to cover yourself with your blanket. you heard footsteps, and then saw a familiar figure emerge from the darkness.

"what do we have here?" the platinum blonde boy smirked, staring at your embarrassed form on your bed. "never thought someone like you would be wanting me this badly."

"what the fuck, draco?" you whisper-shouted, holding the blanket to your chest and staring at him with furrowed brows, "you better get out of here before you regret being here in the first place."

"ah yes," draco chuckled, walking closer to you, "i would love to leave and tell everyone about how you were moaning my name as you touched yourself." you wanted nothing more than to smack that stupid, hot smirk off of draco's face.

"what the hell do you want?" you asked, quickly looking at what he was wearing. a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a pair of black dress pants.

"i was actually here to dye your hair green, you see, i saw you weren't at the party, and thought you were sleeping, but i can see it's obvious that you weren't. but now," draco explained, "y/n, the question is," he took a seat on your bed, lifting your chin to look into your eyes, "what do you want, hmm?"

his eyes trailed to your exposed neck and shoulders, "do you want me to bend you over like the bad girl you are? or do you want me to fuck you with my fingers, is that it?"

you stayed silent.

you hated the fact that you could feel yourself getting wetter as he spoke, and you hated how much you wanted him. you wanted him to do all those things, and more. you wanted him to make you say his name, you wanted to tangle your fingers in his hair as he fucked you.

"perhaps i misread the situation," draco said, rising from his position and dusting off his pants. "i better be going, crabbe and goyle may be looking for me already."

you grabbed his arm, "draco malfoy, i swear to god that if you don't fuck me, i will kill you." draco smirks at you once again, "now that's something i'd like to hear."

draco gets into your bed as you lower the blanket, exposing your top half, only being covered by your bra. he gets on top of you, kissing you with desire and hunger. you moan into his mouth as you feel him unhook your bra and grab your breast. he takes this as the perfect chance to slip his tongue into your mouth, asserting dominance with your own.

he breaks the kiss, panting to take off his own clothes and throw them onto the ground.

"you know, i always thought you were hot," malfoy says, and you scoff. he throws your bra onto the floor as well, before getting on top of you again and kissing your neck.

"i never thought that i'd get to fuck you, though."

you palm him through his boxers, and he groans, hardening quicker by the minute. he bites down softly on your neck, making you gasp. he drags his hand down to your clothed heat, rubbing you through the thin fabric.

you bite down on your lip, wrapping your arms around draco's neck. he kisses your collarbone, before tucking his hand in your panties, playing with your clit between his two fingers.

"love, i think these drenched undies of yours are gonna have to go," he says, grabbing the elastic part, pulling it back and then letting it go, slapping your skin lightly. "mind if i take them off?"

you quickly shake your head no, and he puts on that smug smile of his, before going down to crotch level, and sliding your panties down in a one, quick movement.

"god, i bet you imagined this," draco muttered, sliding a finger into your already soaking core. "all prettied up for me, saying my name.."

he slowly inserts a finger into you, pumping in and out slowly. "fuck, draco!" you moan, grabbing onto the bed sheets. it feels so much better to have him with his finger inside you, pressing light kisses to your stomach.

he inserts another finger, pumping faster this time. "how do i make you feel, hmm? how much did you want this? did you want to come with my fingers inside you?"

draco keeps his fingers inside you, thrusting them at a steady pace, but he comes up to look at your face. you screw your eyes shut, enveloping yourself in the pleasure.

"look at me, love," draco says sternly, making you lock eyes with him. he puts another finger inside you. "do you want to come like this?"

you nod furiously, intertwining your fingers in his hair. "oh god draco.. i'm gonna come.. fuck.."

suddenly, draco removes his fingers from your insides, chuckling to himself as he sees your face form into a vicious glare, almost as if you were ready to slap him. you clenched around nothing, irritated with draco for retracting his fingers as you were just about to reach your high.

"what the fuck, draco?" you yelled, he just laughed and sat up from his position.

"we're just getting to the good part, love, and you're lucky i brought condoms just in case. now be a good girl and turn around for me, yeah?"

you quickly obliged, scrambling to get on your hands and knees as draco rolls on the condom.

"tell me how much you want this," draco whispers in your ear, sending shivers down your spine. he lines up with your entrance, only waiting for your word.

"i want this so much," you say, panting.

draco squeezes your ass, "not good enough."

"for fuck sakes draco, i want you to fuck me. i want you to mess up my insides and make me moan your name. that's what i want, malfoy."

draco doesn't help himself after that, he thrusts into you, making you yelp and grab a fistful of the bed sheets. you clench around him, making him groan out in pleasure. "do that again, fuck. it feels so good to be inside you like this."

malfoy grabs the headboard, slamming into you at a moderate speed, and you could feel your high approaching.

"you take my dick so well, y/n, i've wanted nothing more than to take you into my room and fuck you just like this," he admits. the sound of your skin slapping is the only thing that could be heard in the room, other than the party going on in the common room.

you feel a knot forming as draco hits a spot in you, making you whimper. "right.. there.. fuck!" you yell, as draco continues to hit the same spot.

"i'm gonna come," draco grunts, picking up the pace and biting his lip. "are you gonna come with me, love?"

"yes! yes! i'm gonna... fucking come!" you moan, your arms almost giving out as draco's thrusts become deeper and faster.

"come then, i wanna hear you scream my name," draco groans, slapping your ass lightly. "f-fuck! i'm-"

"draco!" you cry out in pleasure, as the knot in your stomach untangles in the most euphoric way. draco pulls out, taking off the condom and throwing it in the trash. you collapse on the bed, breathing heavily with sweat glistening on every inch of your body. you feel a dip in the bed beside you, and you hear draco panting.

"well," draco says, facing you. you turn your head to see him with a confident grin on his face. "unexpected, huh?"

"yeah whatever, shut up malfoy," you reply, now turning to lay on your back, but still looking at draco. "still don't like you."

"i think different," he teased, playing with strands of your hair. "i think you like me."

you scoff, "as if! i just needed some dick."

"okay y/n, whatever you say," he grinned, "but how about i take you out to hogsmeade, and lets see if you have a change in heart."