#and hope the formatting isn't super broken this time!!!

[vcepsis]

hi hello i am also loving your shiro whump so much, god bless. can i request I + 5 for the drabble prompts, with sheith or miro?

I am so sorry this took so long oof but thank you so much for the request!! Taken from this drabble request meme (fever + in public)

Have 2k of my first ever vld AU (college AU whatup) and my first ever Miro woooo (thought I’d do something different for ya) massive shout out to @feverflushed​ as always for reading it over and listening to me whine

—–

Matt had to fight the impulse to sprint down the hall, pulling out his phone again to check the time. Damn, he was coming up on being thirty minutes late. While being a TA meant he didn’t have a set clock in time, but he always tried to be in the office when Professor Shirogane got in. Matt always liked to be around to help with anything he could: grading papers, sitting in on exams, even writing test questions from time to time. Professor Shirogane—Shiro, he insisted Matt call him—trusted him with a lot, and Matt tried to keep a somewhat timely schedule in return. It was the least he could do, after all.

He finally stopped at the door of Shiro’s office, trying not to look like he ran all the way here from his car. Even after six months of being Shiro’s TA, Matt couldn’t stop the butterflies from dancing in his stomach every time he showed up. Not only was Shiro the most attractive professor on staff—the most beautiful person on campus at any given time, if Matt’s being honest—he was wickedly smart, and kind, and wonderful, and—

Get it together, Holt. Sometimes he felt like a kid crushing on his teacher, instead of a twenty-four year old man with an adult job and half a Master’s degree.

Taking a deep breath, he knocked softly on Shiro’s door.

No answer.

Huh. That was weird. Shiro had class in forty five minutes….he was always in his office at least an hour before.

Matt turned the doorknob, and, finding it unlocked, gently pushed the door open. Shiro always insisted on a casual relationship, even going so far as to give Matt a key to the office if he wanted to work when Shiro wasn’t around. Even so, it felt almost intrusive to enter the room uninvited. “Shiro? You in here?”

It didn’t take Matt long to find Shiro, who was sitting at his desk as usual, but it did take a few moments to register the scene before him.

Shiro’s head was pillowed on his arms in front of his laptop, his glasses pushed up to rest on top of his head. Sound asleep.

Matt gaped, unable to help it. It was rare to see Shiro ever slow down by even a fraction, let alone sleep.

Closing the door as quietly as he could, Matt tiptoed up to Shiro’s desk. The laptop’s screen was dark, and Matt wondered just how long Shiro had been asleep. His breathing was deep, but slightly uneven, and he was snoring softly.

It was the cutest goddamn thing Matt had ever seen.

His face was smushed against his arm, the glasses resting precariously on his white bangs. Matt couldn’t help but smile at the sight. It was nice to see Shiro get some actual rest, for a change.

The smile faded when he noticed the red flush across Shiro’s cheeks and the slightly congested sound of his breathing. There was also a box of tissues on his desk that had most certainly not been there yesterday. Was he getting sick? It was that time of year (then again, in a school this size, it always seemed to be that time of year) and Shiro wasn’t exactly great at remembering to sleep enough. Matt bit his lip, unsure of what to do.

But then, Shiro’s breathing suddenly stuttered, and he lifted his head, blinking tiredly at Matt. His glasses slipped down his forehead to land somewhat crookedly on his nose. Combined with the ruffled hair and the sleepy expression, Matt couldn’t help the way his heart clenched in his chest. Too cute!!

At the same time, though, the flush on his face was darker than Matt had originally thought, and there were dark smudges under his eyes. Matt was beginning to grow concerned.

Clearing his throat slightly, he put on his best not-creepy smile. “Hey man. You feeling alright?”

This seemed to snap Shiro awake, and he sat up so fast it looked like it made him dizzy. “Shit,” he mumbled, rubbing his tired eyes with his palms and straightening his glasses. “What time is it?”

“Don’t worry, you still have…” Matt pulled out his phone. “Thirty-eight minutes until your next class starts.”

Shiro nodded, yawning into the back of his hand, only to have it turn into coughing on the exhale.

“But….” Matt hesitated, feeling like he was overstepping. “Maybe you should cancel?”

Shiro smiled sheepishly, sniffling a bit. “I look that bad, huh?”

God, no, Matt thought silently. A little rumpled, sure, but still the hottest fucking thing within a fifty mile radius. “Nah, just…tired.”

Shiro hummed in agreement, leaning forward on his elbows and rubbing his temples. “Yeah. Think I’m coming down with that bug that’s been going around.” He eyed Matt warily, looking a little apprehensive. “You might not want to work here today. Wouldn’t want you to get sick, too.”

Matt waved his hand in dismissal. “Don’t worry about me, dude. It’s not like anyone can avoid getting sick here, anyway.” As if he’d leave Shiro alone when he looked so miserable. Plus, Matt’s heart jumped at the prospect of taking care of Shiro, even if it was just doing little things like making sure he had enough tissues, or that he didn’t die in his office.

“Still—” Suddenly, Shiro’s breathing hitched dangerously, cutting him off. He swiped a few tissues out of the box with a desperate urgency, swiveling in his chair away from Matt to sneeze harshly a few times into the folds.

Matt resisted the urge to rub Shiro’s back as he blew his nose in the aftermath (because that would be the exact opposite of professional), but he couldn’t help make a comment. “You sure you’re ok? You sound kind of….terrible.”

“I’ll be fine, Matt.” The words sounded a bit dulled, the congestion evident in his voice. He sniffled again and tossed the tissue in the trash. “It’s just a cold, anyway.”

“Sure,” Matt said, not convinced in the slightest. “But isn’t the best part of being a professor being able to cancel class whenever you want?”

Shiro shot him an exasperated look. “Most people would say it’s the joy of teaching,” he said flatly.

“Ok…sounds fake, but ok.” Matt deposited himself in one of the plush chairs opposite Shiro’s desk, rummaging through his bag to find his notebook. They lapsed into silence then, save for Shiro’s occasional sniffle.

Matt tried to concentrate on his work, but it was difficult to ignore Shiro’s deteriorating condition. The cough he was trying to keep contained was sounding worse and worse as time went on, from dry and quiet to crackling and harsh. It sounded downright painful. Matt knew Shiro thought it was “just a cold”, but he also knew Shiro had the tendency to work himself into the ground and turn a simple illness into something worse. And sure, Shiro was an adult, but Matt couldn’t help but worry.

Soon enough, though, Shiro was packing his bag to head to his class. Matt sighed internally, knowing Shiro would work through literally anything. So he did the only logical thing.

“What are you doing?” Shiro asked as Matt shoved his notebook back into his bag.

“Coming with you to class,” Matt said, as if that was what he always did and there was absolutely no reason to be suspicious about it.

But Shiro was, of course, not buying it. “Ok, but….why?”

Matt shrugged, trying to make it all seem natural. “Because you’re teaching a class that’s relevant to my Master’s? You know…the one you’re helping me with?”

“It’s an intro level class,” Shiro said slowly, rubbing his pink nose with the back of his wrist. “You probably know this stuff better than I do, at this point.”

Matt scoffed. As if that was possible. Shiro was probably one of the smartest people he knew. He did have a point, though; Matt did know this stuff inside and out. Mostly he wanted to make sure Shiro didn’t traumatize his students by passing out halfway through the lecture.

Shiro sighed as Matt zipped up his bag. “Alright,” he said, slightly exasperated. “It’s not like I can stop you anyway.”

Matt beamed as he slung his bag over his shoulder. “Nope!”

—-

To his immense credit, Shiro did not, in fact, pass out during the lecture.

By the end, though, he looked pretty damn close.

Matt sat in a chair off to the side, where the podium with Shiro’s laptop sat. He got some odd looks from a few students—normally they only saw Matt during midterms or exams—but he ignored them, focusing his energy on monitoring Shiro.

Shiro had started off strong, only a hint of congestion in his voice giving away his condition. But as the class went on, his voice got worse, his energy seemed to wane, and he had to stop a few times to sneeze into the crook of his elbow. The ugly fluorescent lights of the lecture hall did nothing to hide the dark flush across his cheeks and nose. At some point, Matt realized had completely tuned out what Shiro was actually saying, keeping a close eye on the time, waiting anxiously for the class to be over.

After what felt like an eternity, Shiro finally dismissed the class, and Matt jumped up from his seat. Shiro made his way to the podium and started packing up his bag, taking longer than usual, his movements sluggish. Matt wanted to help, but didn’t want to cross the boundary of their professional relationship.

Well…he did. Very, very badly. But now wasn’t the time for that.

“Hey.” Matt leaned against the podium, looking up at Shiro’s flushed face. “I really think you should go home.”

Shiro checked his watch—of course he wore a watch, what an old fashioned fool, and Matt’s chest grew warm with affection. “I have my fourth year class in an hour—”

“So?” Matt straightened and put his hands on his hips, the picture of defiance. “There are like, ten people in that class. They’ll survive. Plus, you’re sick. They’ll understand.”

“But—”

“No!” Matt exclaimed, frustration welling up inside him. God, why was Shiro so bad at taking care of himself? “You’re sick and you’re miserable and you definitely have a fever. You need to take care of yourself too, you know!”

Shiro at least had the decency to look admonished. “It’s not that bad…”

“Not that—” Matt choked on the words. And in a move of absolute rage-fuelled insanity, he shoved his hand under Shiro’s bangs, with his palm on Shiro’s forehead.

Shiro’s eyes went wide, and Matt suddenly realized what he’d done. But before the mortification could eat him alive, the heat searing into his palm demanded his attention.

“Holy shit dude, you’re burning up.” He dropped his hand as quickly as possible, as if that could salvage the situation. His hand tingled in the aftermath, and Matt wasn’t sure it was just because of the heat. “Let’s get back to your office so you can email those students because you are cancelling your next class.”

Shiro’s shoulders slumped under the weight of Matt’s words, and finally, he nodded. It was a testament to how terrible he was feeling that he relented so quickly. He turned away from Matt as another coughing fit took over, the sound wet and harsh as he buried his face in his elbow. Matt’s heart hurt from the sound.

“This hit you like a truck, huh?” Matt felt his frustration evaporate, only to be replaced with concern as Shiro used one hand to steady himself on the podium. As Shiro stopped to catch his breath, Matt circled around the podium, grabbing Shiro’s laptop and his various papers and stuffing them in his bag. It wasn’t the neatest thing ever, but it would do for now. With his own bag on one shoulder and slinging Shiro’s bag on the other, he reached out a hand to tentatively touch Shiro’s back.

“You ok?” Matt asked softly, feeling a little guilty about his previous outburst. But Shiro didn’t seem upset, until he looked over and saw Matt with his bag.

“Matt, no, I can take my bag…”

“I got it, Shiro,” Matt said. I got you ran through his head, but he managed to quell the thought before he did something stupid, like use it to confess his undying love. “Now let’s get you home, alright?”

Shiro ran a hand over his face, letting out a congested sounding breath. “What would I do without you?”

Matt grinned. “Probably be dead in your office.”

The smile Shiro sent him in return was a little tired, a little exasperated, but it was bright and beautiful and it melted Matt’s heart.

Ah, shit, Matt thought as his own smile grew wider. I love him.

[af1899]

THE REAL BEST NEWS OF THE UPDATE

The whole banner is boring, these are the real best news tonight.

POGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

Yes, after a long wait of over 4 years, Sophia is finally getting her first alt and as a free unit, which is very nice.

Part of the artwork, as well as the event information, should be out in less than 2 hours since this post's date/time.

Anyway, I'll now comment on a few things about the new units now formally revealed with skills and artwork.

Trailer

Thoughts

The seasonal units come to no surprise as they were all previously leaked (thanks again Intern-kun!) but there are some interesting things in this reveal and the associated notice.

First of all, you're perhaps wondering how well I did with my guesses on the attires Male Grima and Kurtnaga would be doning plus the free unit potentially being Nasir, well... completely wrong with the last two, Kurthnaga isn't dressing like a Jiangshi, actually looking more like an... emperor? But if you know his role in the Tellius games, then it makes sense, either way he looks nice, I was right with Male Grima, more dressed up than his Female counterpart and the like, but Okuma Yugo takes on drawing Male Grima again and he looks so cool.

However, I'm still shook one of my biggest favs in Elibe got an alt like, out of nowhere, I was totally expecting some Tellius unit that'd go along with the theory I had in mind, nevethless, I'm excited to build her and comment on her gameplay elements (that'll be done once I have her properly built, but I need to prepare some resources in advance), I'll also talk about the event stuff later on, I hope today but something came up recently, so we'll see.

The banner itself remains the same: an easy skip with nothing I do feel like I need right away.

Male Grima is fodder galore for me, fortunately, he's easy to fodder for two full passive skills if one of them is [Sturdy Stance 3]. He's quite fearsome to face if you initiate on an ally of his near him, and he'll be pretty durable, replacing his special with [Moonbow] is also a good call, then add a movement assist, a [Atk/Def Bond] as [Sacred Seal] and he's set. It's also worth noting he's a colorless breath armor unit, giving him less likelihood to get WTD.

Rhea... Idk if that weapon type and animation would give away some important spoilers, but even though I know something regarding her identity, I'd rather continue avoiding spoilers, I have no way to play her home game. She's also another fodder galore unit in my eyes; but onto what's she like as a unit, not as great as Male Grima, and she relies on both keeping herself healthy to reduce incoming damage and deny follow-ups, plus healthy foes to deal follow-up attacks, not the most reliable thing but not too shabby either, keeping her health on check shouldn't be as difficult.

Kurthnaga has a rather interesting weapon over there, it makes its user beefier in enemy phase and you can inherit it to any dragon unit of your liking, the rest isn't exactly too interesting except for maybe [Even Pulse Tie 3] being on a seasonal semi-demote, it's a decent skill that can (in part) counter some teams or units but most of the time, you'll find it useless. He's also added like Spring Narcian, introducing a new {Experience} skill and an inheritable weapon, plus on demote too. 🤨

Lastly, Sothis is with Male Byleth, it seems to be the better fit for her out of the two despite his not-so-recent Legendary alt, since his Female counterpart leads a Duo with Rhea. Fodder galore as well but this one has some things to point out:

Welp, that's Múspell's C-skill but without {Joint}-esque effect all right, and you can give it to dragons, it'll likely stack with Múspell's C-skill, resulting in a slightly bigger boost in damage dealt and reduction on damage taken, most likely at least.

As a unit, this Duo is also best used on enemy phase, with a Lv.3 {Stance} of any kind being their best A-skill, they should be able to handle themselves just fine, but they're still vulnerable to arrows, green bow users like Rath or Python (for accessable choices) or Shamir with [Deadeye] should be able to quickly dispatch the Duo, they'll also most likely be used in offense than defense I think, they still don't seem super threatening, but their selling point would be the Duo Skill, which can help some units deal with Fallen Edelgard and some other dangers that tend to deny follow-up attacks:

...And it can be re-used on the same map.

Anyway, it seems everyone here has some sort of focus on being tankier and enemy phase oriented, yet there's a clear ounce of difference in how to use them, but nothing I'd exactly find super broken or must-have, the Duo might come in handy though.

I'll just free pick blue if available, otherwise I guess I'll go for colorless, green or red, I'm moreso looking forward to Sophia... speaking of her, it's possible she'll also play similarly to the units in here and her OG form (being slow and tanky, best used on enemy phase), if that's how she plays out, then [Close Counter], [Atk/Res Rein 3] (though I need a Brady first to properly fodder Plumeria) and [Pact Blooms+] are ready for her, but I'm short on B-skills and other expensive stuff, maybe [Flier Formation 3] since I have one last Díthorba to spare, I could pick [Quick Riposte 3] but my OCD wouldn't let me live with her just inheriting it up to Lv.2, and my only source without promoting anyone is Nah, so I'd have to do with alternatives, we'll see...

Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you get who you want soon in the banner, hopefully Sophia will do great for you if you plan to build her also.