#and it would’ve been fair to have approached me as ‘can you also talk about this?’ which i’ve done for people who’ve asked in the past

[paranetics]

Have sympathy for the guy all you want but don't call thus 19 year old man a child. Yeah it's a pity he was forced into it but he wasn't a kid. Don't add to the issue of adult men being infanfilised whenever something bad happens.

Especially when there were ACTUAL children on that refugee boat.

hey come off anon and be fucking stupid with your face attached to it. you deserve to be shamed all the way to hell you disgusting little reprobate. if you think 19 years was long enough on this planet that’s the dumbest thing i’ve ever heard in my whole life. you think adulthood is measured by the legal statute of years lived instead of experience in life, you are completely mistaken. a majority of 19 year olds aren’t in college. they can’t drink. they can’t rent a car. they still haven’t decided on personalities.

the double standard in the media coverages is a valid talking point NOT somehow choosing to make this about “infantilizing men” you moron. the greecian disaster was a horrible fucking tragedy, unfortunately i am one human person and not a news outlet or a conglomeration of people blasting out posts at the speed of light. i am one dude who was sad about a 19yo who died cus he loved his dad, while people were trivializing his death because it was funny the CEO of dumbshit corporation decided to ignore basic safety to attempt a 12500 ft dive.

you’re a mean spirited ugly person who can’t think their way out of a cardboard box and you’re even worse for doing it on anon, because you know i’d block you sight unseen.

[nervousimposter]

Eddie started finding notes in his locker his sophomore year. The first couple of them, he just tossed without reading. He didn’t need to read what those asshole bullies wanted to say about him. But curiosity won out after two weeks of constant notes and he finally opened one. It was the single most impactful thing he’d ever read. 

I think you’re the prettiest boy I’ve ever seen. 

He kept that note. And every other note he got from that point on. If anyone were to ask Eddie what he regretted most in his life, it would be those two weeks of notes he tossed without reading. Ten slips of paper with unknown writing that he wishes he could get back. Add them to his ‘mystery boys notes’ box. And he was a mystery, the note writer. Anonymous. Unknown. Impossible to catch. 

Eddie held out for a month. A whole month before he decided to stage a stake out. He watched his locker like a hawk. In between classes, during classes, lunch, after school and even one absolutely horrible day where he came in an hour before school started. But the mystery boy had to be invisible. He never saw anyone approach his locker but his daily note was always there. And Eddie; poor, unfortunate, infatuated Eddie dealt with mystery boys’ notes from ‘82 to ‘85. Four agonizing years of the most heart-warming, loving notes. 

I wish I was as brave as you.

Did you change your shampoo? Your hair looked so soft today.

God, your eyes have to be the biggest fucking eyes I’ve ever seen. So pretty.

I like how long your hair is getting. 

Saw you walking down the hall today and I’ve never wanted to kiss someone more. 

They started cute. Compliments here and there, even a doodle every once in a while. Hearts and smiley faces. But as the months and years went by, the mystery boy got deeper. Confessions and secrets. 

I think if I had a different dad, we would’ve been best friends.

Can you fall in love with someone you’ve never talked to?

I dream about us. 

I’m a boy. I’m sorry.

I want to hold your hand. Those rings are something else. 

I saw you trying to catch me. Adorable.

I wish I could take you on a date. Not give a shit what my dad would say or what people would think. 

I wish I could be brave enough to talk to you. 

You’re still the prettiest boy I’ve ever seen.

I’m graduating this year. I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you. I think I’m going to try to figure out a way to keep dropping these off next year. I don’t want you to forget about me.

The notes didn’t continue when the school year started. Eddie was embarrassed to admit he cried that first night. He wasn’t sure how the mystery boy was going to be able to get the notes to him but he fully believed it was going to happen. He went five weeks with no daily note in his locker. And then, it showed up on a Monday. He almost missed it, the tiny slip of paper. 

Sorry this took so long. Had to figure out how I was going to sneak these in here. I don’t think I’ll be able to call you pretty every day of the week this time around but I’m going to try my best! 

And mystery boy was right. The notes were always there on Monday. Just Monday. But Eddie didn’t complain. One note a week after five weeks of nothing almost had his heart bursting from his chest. It also narrowed down his search. Sort of. Mystery boy was either coming in on those Mondays to drop off the note, sneaking in on the weekends when the school was empty OR after school on Fridays. And look, he’s failed to graduate high school two times in a row now but he wasn’t stupid. Did it take him three months after the notes to start again for him to realize who it was? Yes but to be fair, for two of those months it was Eddie wallowing in denial. 

Five weeks into school was when he restarted Hellfire. Three weeks before that was when he brought in those new little freshman sheepies. The same freshman sheepies that got picked up by Steve Harrington. Steve Harrington who graduated last year. Steve Harrington who he catches staring at him from his beemer in the parking lot every Friday night before he takes the kiddies home. Steve who he categorizes as someone who is so far out of his league that it just couldn’t be him. But it’s been three months and there isn’t any other former Hawkins high student running around in or near the school. And now that Eddie’s almost certain Steve has been mystery boy these past few years, he can’t wait. He’s been in love with a figure made out of slips of paper for four years and his nonexistent patience has truly run thin.  

He calls for a break 15 minutes before they normally end their sessions. Tells the boys he needs to run to the bathroom and almost sprints out the door. His locker sits in the hallway just around the corner of the drama room. The door closing shut echos through the empty hallways, alongside the squeaks coming from his shoes as he hustles towards his locker. He freezes as soon as he turns the corner. 

Steve probably only had 30 seconds after hearing the door open and shut to process what he was going to do. He could’ve run or hid, maybe pretend like he just needed the bathroom while he waited. But Eddie watched him pause as they made eye contact instead. Watched as Steve looked him up and down. Watched him relax and lean back against the lockers behind him with a lazy smirk. His arm slowly moved up and Eddie could see a slip of paper held between his fingers. Steve didn’t break eye contact with him at all as he proceeded to shove the paper between the vents of his locker. They stayed like that for what felt like hours. Staring. Broken when Steve pushed himself off the wall and walked towards him. He didn’t stop. Side stepped around Eddie before they could collide. A faint brush of his fingers along the back of his hand as he walked past him. And Eddie just watched him pass. Just like he watched him slip that note in his locker, he watched Steve walk back down the hall and out the front doors.

He waited only five seconds after the doors closed behind Steve before he jogged over to his locker. Grabbed the note and shoved it into his pocket before running back over to the drama room. Told the guys that they stopped at a decent spot and would meet again next Friday. Walked with them to the parking lot to head home. To catch a glimpse of Steve. And there he was, sitting in his beemer, staring again. This time though, Eddie smiled at him. He smiled at him and pulled the note out of his pocket. Opened it right there in the parking lot while he stared back at Steve. It only took him a few seconds to glance down to read. And as soon as he did, he threw his head back and laughed. Cackled really. He looked back at the beemer and saw Steve with the widest grin. Watched him lift his fingers off the steering wheel and wiggle them at him before he started pulling out of the lot. He looked back down at the note in his hand and chuckled again. Who knew Steve Harrington knew DnD well enough to draw a perfect rendition of an eight sided dice?

Wanna go on a d8? - Steve Harrington xxx-xxx-xxxx

[mooncalvin]

Across the hall (pt. 2)

Summary: just George and you getting to know each other a bit better.

Warnings: pure smut. Choking kink, Dom!George, and much more.

Words: 4k

A/n: I'll leave this here and go back to my cave. I just finished uni and now I have much more time for writing so let's just see how it goes. Hope you like this very much!

A few days later you two meet at the same caffee of the last time.

“So what about Georgie?”

You flush once again “I mean, he is really nice, I don’t really know much about him”

“It’s not like you have to know an awful lot of someone to want to fuck them” she stated “By the way, I think he likes you too, we went to see him on Tuesday and he couldn’t shut up about you and your paintings, and he isn’t really an artsy guy, you know?”

“But before this , he barely even looked at my direction, I’m sure he didn’t even know I existed” 

“Girl! The only reason I went for sugar to your house is because he said you looked nice and didn’t want to go by himself, we weren’t even baking a cake” her answer took you by surprise.

“Lily!”

You kept talking to her as the days went by, you were more similar than what you would’ve thought. But he wouldn’t stop bringing up George, dead-set on getting you two together.

You haven’t seen him since the last interaction at your apartment one week ago. So you were surprised when you saw him knocking at your door.

“Hi” you greeted him, failing to hide your smile “is there anything you need”.

“Not really” he answered “I thought it was only fair to invite you for coffee at my place since you invited me the other day.” he proposed to you shyly.

“Sure I would love to,” you said enthusiastically.

You walked to his flat, very different from yours, sober and modern style, almost impersonal, probably because he has recently moved in. You smiled when you saw some of his helmets and pictures of a much younger him from when he was in the lower racing categories. 

“You were cute here” he smiled as a red layer covered his cheeks.

“Well, do you want to sit down? I can put on a movie or something while I prepare the drinks” he muttered.

“Yeah, sure”. After a while he returns and sits next to you, fairly close to you, but not enough. Neither of you started a conversation at first, feeling a bit awkward. It’s him who breaks the silence.

“How is your artwork coming?” you turn to him to answer.

“I finished the piece I was working on when you visited, now I’m working on a personal piece.” he hummed and turned his gaze to the tv. A while after, you turn your head to discover him already looking at you. This man has to be interested in you, right? The looks he’s been giving to you since you’ve entered his apartment screaming “I’m thinking about fucking you right now”. He wouldn’t be smirking and staring at you if he didn’t want to sleep with you. But were you going to act on it? Hell no.

“So, you are a formula one driver” you stated.

“I am indeed” he answered.

“And how is it?” you asked, genuinely curious about it.

“Well, I’ve been racing all my life and formula one is the top of racing, so it feels like an actual dream but it also has its flaws. I don’t really like all of the press stuff and how paparazzis and magazines intrude into your private life, ” he said. You bite your lip while listening to him.

“If you don’t stop biting your lip like that I don't know how much more I could control myself” he mutters so quietly that you almost can’t hear him, but you do. Your eyes go wide as you freeze, watching how he licks his lips as he approaches you “God I want to fuck you so bad.”

All the breath leaves your body, heat rushing to your core. Your cheeks are bright red, heart shaking as you look at him. 

He actually wants you. He wants to fuck you.

All you can do is look at him, muttering a quiet “George…” Before he is leaning over you, body pressing against yours, lips so close that you can feel his hot breath, hands gripping your chin. You can feel the slight hardness poking at your stomach so you look down briefly before looking into his eyes again. 

George’s blue eyes stare into yours, watching your every movement. Your lips are practically brushing each other. And his hand goes to your hip, pressing you close to him. A moan escapes your mouth before his lips are fully into yours, silencing you. 

It takes you a second to respond to the kiss. But then you feel his lips move against your and follow, kissing him with passion. Your hands come up to hold onto him. One pressing against his cheek and the other on the back of his head, so you can run it through his hair. He presses you harder against him as his other hand goes to your hair tugging it, leaving your neck uncovered, so he can start to kiss it and bite it.

He lets out a little moan when you pull his hair to bring your lips together again. 

One of his hands moves up to your neck, wrapping around it and adding a light pressure. You take his bottom lip with your teeth , pulling back and biting down lightly before pulling away from his lips entirely.

He stares down at you, hand wrapped around your neck as you pant and whine, legs wrapped around him squeezing while you attempt to grind into him.

“Do you like it rough sweet girl?” A laugh escapes him, fingers pressing into your throat a little tighter for a moment, you moan out, nodding your head.

Right now you feel like you’ve never before, relinquishing all your control to George as your mind goes fuzzy and your pussy gets wetter.

Both of you moan when George grinds his cock straight into you, the friction scratching right against your clit.

He buries his head into your neck befores going upwars, his mouth coming to rest beside your ear.

“I’m going to take you into my room and I’m going to eat this pussy before fucking you raw. Is that alright darling?” your pussy clenches as  and your head is nodding before he grabs you under your thighs and picks you up, walking through his apartment towards his bedroom.   

You bounce on the bed when he throws you down, giggling while you lay there and stare at him.

He stands at the end of the bed, tall and imposing.

You watch as he takes off his t-shirt, his body skinny but full of muscle, wanting nothing more than to rip the rest of his clothes, but he is quicker as he grabs your legs and slides you down the bed.

“Do you want this sweetheart?” he stares down at you with a smirk, palming his erection through his trousers. You glance at him, nodding your head. “Words, darling”

“Yes,” you mutter.

“Yes what? Your eyebrows furrow, and you take a moment comprehending what you heard before you realise. 

“Yes sir” you practically moan.

He lets out a groan at your words, hands rushing to undo your belt and take off your trousers, sliding them down your legs, leaving you in only your panties.

You’re grateful that you didn't choose to wear your teddy bear panties, maybe you knew that something like this could happen.

George moans when he sees your soaked underwear, a hand reaching your covered pussy. You whine and move your hips up, only hoping that he would do something else. “George…” Suddenly he is rushing to pull your pants down your legs, spreading them and throwing them over his shoulders as he kneels in front of you.

You lay there in anticipation as George lays open mouthed kisses on your thighs. He continues to tease you, coming closer to your core before moving away. Your whine at the teasing.

“So desperate for me, aren’t you?” When you look down at him, he’s still looking at you, lips puffy from all the kisses you shared. “If you beg me I might just consider going further love” he says before nipping the skin of your thigh. 

Your legs tighten around his head “Please, George, please, I need it so bad”. He scoffs against your leg, a hand going up to caress your ass gently, before laying a smack onto it, making your hips buck into him.

“I don’t think I remember what I told you to call me, was it that?” He says sharply.

“Please sir…” you let out another whine as he licks a strip up your pussy, getting the attention you needed.

“You taste so good, sweet girl” he says before diving back and running his tongue all the way to your clit, sucking it.

You moan out, and your hands fly to tangle in his hair and pull. He lets out a moan and brings an arm to hold your hips down, continuing his duty.

You cannot stop moaning, a pressure building up your lower stomach as he continues with his torment.

He fucks you with his tongue, his nose digging into your clit, one of his hands harshly gripping onto your thighs as they rest on his shoulders. All you can do is look down and watch him, eyes almost closed because of the pleasure.

His hand releases your leg and comes to your pussy, one of your fingers sliding into it, making your grip on his hair tighten. 

He puts another one not long after, curving both of them, hitting the spot that makes you see stars. He pulls his face away from you for a moment, his fingers still fucking you as he looks up at you, his chin covered in your slick. Your walls clench around his fingers, making him let out a laugh, motivating him to do it harder.

“Such a dirty little whore, aren’t you?” you tighten around his fingers as he says it, making him laugh again “You like that, don’t you? My little slut” you let out a moan indicating that you are going to come soon.

“I-I’m going to come” you stutter, not being able to form a coherent sentence.

“Yeah baby? Are you going to soak my fingers like the dirty girl you are?” you feel as he adds a third one, stretching you.

You moan as a confirmation, and he leans down again, sucking you hard as he continues pounding his fingers into you.

You feel your stomach pull tighter, as your release comes, moaning his name as you cum. Your legs shake, back arching as the pleasure invades you. That doesn’t make him stop, as he continues licking you through your orgasm.

He pulls away from your pussy, and lets his hand to his mouth, tasting your release as he lets out a moan.

He stands up fully, towering over you once again as you lay in bed, recovering from the orgasm that has just hit you.

You come back to earth as you feel him grab your waist and hike you up the bed, resting your head on one of the pillows that lies there. Then he dives down to connect your lips and your hands go up to wrap around his shoulders, nails digging into them. You continue to kiss as he grinds his erection over your pussy. You shake at the overstimulation, whining when his lips leave your mouth. You open your eyes to see him hovering over you, smirk on his face.

“From the moment I saw you I knew I had to ruin you” he says, eyes dark with lust. You moan at his words.

“Please fuck me George” you mutter, pulling him back down and kissing him fiercely. He pins your wrists to the bed, taking control.

He pulls away, releasing your arms and pulling you up so he can pull your shirt off, admiring your breasts in your bra before removing it. He pushes you back down and starts laying kisses across your chest until he takes one of your nipples into his mouth, sucking it lightly and pinching the other one with his hand. You moan, your hips grinding on him and hands on his hair as he continues to lap at your breasts, switching between them.

He pulls away and stares at you for a moment, “I’m going to fuck you so hard” he says before pulling away undoing his pants so he can push them and his underwear down, revealing his cock to you.

He’s actually bigger than you expected, precum dripping from his tip. You can’t help but moan at the sight as your legs open on their own, almost like a reflex, exposing yourself to him again.

He laughs at your eagerness. “You don’t mind if I fuck you raw, do you, love?” you shake your head quickly.

“Please I need to feel you inside me” You whine, becoming desperate for him. He smirks at you as he climbs the bed, crawling on top of you, getting himself between your legs, dragging his cock across your wet folds, making you leave a moan as he brushes your clit.

He grabs your legs, pushing them up slightly as he holds himself up on top of you, guiding the tip to your hole, pushing it slightly.

Both of you moan, your back arched at the feeling and your eyes closed. But they shoot open when you feel George wrapping one of his hands around your throat, adding a light pressure “that’s right babygirl” he whispers “keep your eyes open for me”.

Then he begins pushing in, your walls squeezing him as you struggle to keep your eyes open, gasping.

He mumbles a “fuck” and keeps pushing in, hand squeezing your throat slightly.

“Oh George…” you whine when he bottoms out, him fully inside you.

The feeling is just amazing. The stretch of his dick and the feeling of his hand around your throat sends you into a state of bliss, making you struggle to keep your eyes open.

George is not much better, his eyes are also closed as he refrains himself not to start pounding into you like some kind of animal, wanting to give you a second to adjust to his size before fucking you fully.

His eyes are open when he hears you mutter a little “please”. And he looks at your face as you stare up at him, begging him to move and fuck you.

He doesn’t waste a second, pulling out of you before sliding back in.

You both moan at the same time and he begins pushing in and out of your cunt, picking up his pace.

Your eyes roll to the back of your head, and your hands come to grab his wrist as he continues to choke you, slowing your breathing in the most delightful way.

The coil is back on your stomach, this time faster than before. The feeling of his cock pushing against your walls is just as good as you had imagined, maybe even better.

You stare up at him as he pounds into you, his pace picking up as your eyes catch his. He slides the hand that was at your throat down your body until it reaches your clit, rubbing it.

“Open your mouth” he suddenly says. You can’t help but be confused, not really understanding why you should open your mouth, but you do it anyway. You watch as he spits in your mouth. “Swallow it”. You do it immediately, your pussy squeezing as he lets out a “good girl” after.

He lets out another moan before pulling out of you.

You whine at the emptiness, hands going to his arms before he’s grabbing you and flipping you over onto your stomach, grabbing your hips and pitching them up, hips in the air and face buried in the pillows.

George grabs onto your ass, kneading it before leaning down and biting you, spanking you after you let a little moan. “You’re just the perfect girl for me”. You hear him mutter before his hands go to your hips and he starts pushing his cock into you again, making you moan happily.

Now he goes pounding into you, pace fast and rough as he fucks you into the bed.

His cock glides in and out of you, the occasional smack on your ass as you moan out.

You feel so close to coming. “Harder George please!”, you call out, painting and gripping onto the sheets tight as his trusts get harder.

He grabs your hair, pulling until you’re leaning up on your knees, your back to his chest, hitting deeper with each thrust. You moan together, and you turn your face to his, your lips connecting in a sloppy but passionate kiss. Your hand cradles his head, the other grabbing his side, as he continues to fuck up into you.

You feel the coil tighten and tighten, bringing you closer to relief. And as if he had read your mind, George’s hand comes to your clit, making you cum all over him.

You moan loudly, body trembling as he continues to fuck you, your hand pullin his hair tightly, even louder when you feel the heat of his cum fill you as he comes inside of you, his own moans mixing with yours as he connects your lips again.

You keep kissing as you come down from your highs. Breaths steadying when you pull away from each other.

You stare into his eyes as he stares into yours, the both of you panting. A smile makes its way into your lips, one forming in his no long after. One of his hands comes to cradle the back of your head, pulling you into him to kiss you again.

He then slowly pulls his cock out of your pussy, making you whine at the feeling, already missing him. He gives you a short peck and helps you lay down on the bed before pulling away from you entirely.

“I’ll come back in a moment, love” he says. You nod and close your eyes as you feel the exhaustion creepin into you.

You don’t even know how long it went until George gets back. You feel him spread your legs a little before a wet cloth is cleaning away the cum that pools your pussy. You half open your eyes and watch him, a dizzy smile on your face at his caring actions.

He glances at you when he’s done, climbing back into bed next to you.

He pulls you into him, pulling you to rest onto his chest. You wrap your arm around him, squeezing harder when you hear his heart beating faster.

You feel him lean down and press a kiss to your head, sighing in contentment at the moment.

After what could have been hours but were just a few minutes settling after your littler encounter, you pull away from him a little bit, leaning up as you look at him, him looking back at you. A small smile rests on his face, and you lean forward to press a kiss to his lips, humming with joy as his lips press back.

When you pull away you look back at him.

It’s now or never.

“Would you go on a date with me?” you ask him, anxiety crippling.

He can’t help but laugh at your question.

“I’d love to go on a date with you”.

Taglist: @mysticalnightenthusiast @vildetry06 @rens-daylight

[briebysabs]

I have to talk about Misha I’ve been holding this for so long. I am not defending him, everything he’s done is fucked up. I just want people to understand him better and idk how coherent this will be but HSVDVXHSBSJJDF

Bc if you hate him, totally justified. But I don’t want Misha to ever be simplified to the jealous crazy younger brother. Yes he is technically that but one thing about mochijun characters is that most of the time, you can always dig further into their psyche. And I feel like not enough people do that with Misha. I haven’t made an in-depth Misha discussion until now mostly bc I’m a potato. He isn’t 2-dimensional and he fits perfectly in the themes of vnc. Misha cannot be saved, he is a hopeless character, he bears Luna’s Mark while using the Book he is doomed. You can say he was doomed the second he entered the story. His brotherly love for Vanitas is twisted. He is the embodiment of tragic. Everything that led him to this point was not his fault. The only thing he chose was to follow Luna and join their clan bc he would’ve died otherwise. Luna and Vanitas are the only good things he ever had.

We all know his backstory. So of course losing both would make him snap. And on top of all this he’s being manipulated by Teacher. Who fucking knows the lies or orders Teacher has been feeding him. All this when he’s like 12....13 at most.

And let’s approach the vanoé situation. We know the depth of vanoé’s relationship and even though Misha might’ve observed from afar, he doesn’t have that context. To be fair he probably wouldn’t care but point is, he sees Noé as some random guy. And again, let’s withdraw ourselves a bit and see things from the outside. How much time has passed since chapter 1? How long has Vanitas and Noé actually known each other? We know that a couple weeks passed since the end of the Gevaudan arc. We know that a week passed after Vanoé got kicked outta Ruthven’s study. If there are any other mini time skips I’m forgetting pls lemme know. But let’s be honest, they’ve known each other for two months. If we wanna push it, three. Of course how long you know a person doesn’t solely decide how close you get to them. You can know someone for two weeks but depending wtf goes on in that time frame, they can become your ride or die. But let’s use Misha’s logic for a minute.

You’ve known Vanitas longer, both of you went through hell under Dr. Moreau. You have the same Mark, you’re gonna suffer the same fate. And from how you see it, he chose a man he met by chance a few months ago, over you. Someone who will never truly get it. He is putting his life in the hands of a stranger over yours. You finally meet again after all this time, and the brother who you believed puts you above everything, points a gun at you. Yeah, Misha fucked up. But that will hurt anybody.

Misha challenges their relationship. He questions how much it even makes sense. It’s not only “how can you chose Noé over me?” But also “How can you kill Father but not him?” Is he more important than us?? And that’s a valid question. Messed up but understandable to ask. Noé has protected Vanitas and has been pretty helpful. But Vanitas doesn’t need him to survive. Noé isn’t essential for this suicide mission he’s on either. Misha cannot understand what Noé brings to Vanitas’ life.

Misha was so dependent on Vanitas that he couldn’t fathom his brother not feeling the same. Vanitas loves Misha, no matter how strained or corrupted that bond has become. But he is not emotionally capable to stay with him. And he is allowed to feel that way. And Misha is allowed to scream and wail and be broken about it. In conclusion, Misha is an amazing addition to the narrative, I love him a lot. But I also love Vincent from ph so that explains quite a bit doesn’t it?

[ilguna]

☼ lucky charm (Finnick Odair) ☼

summary; believing that he'll fail the next game that'll win hufflepuff the quidditch cup, Finnick comes to you asking for felix felicis.

warnings; swearing, rule breaking

wc; 2.9k

notes; hogwarts au

–

Ever since you found out you could make money from illegally selling potions to other students, you haven’t stopped.

You didn’t realize there was such a demand for potions, otherwise you would’ve started sooner. You could be rolling in more galleons than you know what to do with—not that you aren’t already. You will say, though, that it’s extremely time consuming, and they’re lucky you have nothing better to do at Hogwarts.

You’ve tried joining the extracurriculars, but they’re not nearly as entertaining. You don’t have the talent for quidditch, and you were told that by the Captain when you tried out last year. And the last thing you want to do is try out for the frog choir, that’s a ticket to get laughed at.

Actually, you were hoping that Snape would finally come out with a potions club that you could go to instead of studying in the library. As much as he hated to admit it, he told you that you were one of the best potion makers that he’d seen in years. He called you a bright student and then made you promise to never repeat those words to anyone else.

If you could, you’d shove it all in the slytherin’s faces. You’re sure that they’d be pissed a hufflepuff is accomplishing feats they should be doing with their eyes closed. After all, Snape is their house professor, not yours.

You draw a line through a name in your notebook, drawing an arrow to an empty space to write a note on why their order is cancelled, when you hear your name. You look up, closing the notebook in the process to hide what’s inside.

There’s not a lot of people that know you make potions under the table. There’s only a select few people that do, and that’s so you don’t end up getting caught. Your closest friends try to keep their ears out for those who are serious about buying, and they subtly lead them to you.

The only house that you refuse to help so far are the ravenclaws, because they believe in fairness more than the other houses do. They’ll turn in cheaters without a second thought to it, because no one should have an unnatural disadvantage. It’s bullshit. 

You get by without them, anyway. This is just a side hobby, it’s not like you’re saving up to buy anything. You could stop whenever you wanted to, but that just risks losing the monopoly you have on the business. You’re the only one that willingly sells the potions at a low price without complaining. And also, your potions aren’t fake. You’re a reliable source.

You’re met with the faces of a few of hufflepuff’s quidditch team. The one that’s standing closest to you is the one and only, Finnick Odair. Lately people have been saying that he’s going to be the huffelpuff seeker prodigy, and your house hasn’t had one of those in a long time.

“What can I do for you?” You ask, placing your quill in the ink bottle to hold it temporarily.

“Can we talk privately?” Finnick asks, “I have a favor to ask of you.”

“Sure, I’ll meet you in the hallway in just a moment.” You look between him and his friends, “Are we all talking…?”

“No, just me and you.” He smiles.

He walks off with the other two, you make a funny face at their backs. You’re not sure why all three of them approached you if he wanted to talk to you in private. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he needed moral support to talk to you. You can’t imagine you’re a hard person to approach, though.

You flip the notebook back open, taking the quill to write the note quickly. He cancelled because he needed the potion for a later date, and would prefer for it to be freshly produced. You write the new date next to the note, and then you leave the notebook open to dry while you put the rest of your things away.

You like to use lunch and after dinner as times to catch up on the potions. You refuse to do them in the morning because you’re too tired to operate. You tried a couple of times, and those were the times you set the bathroom on fire and exploded a hole through the stall doors. Your hair still hasn’t grown correctly since. 

You pack the rest of your bag, and then head out of the Great Hall to find Finnick Odair. You have a feeling that it’s going to be about the potions. The people who approach you to ask usually start with wanting to speak in private, because that’s what they’ve been instructed to do by your friends.

You pass by Finnick’s friends, and every single one of them has their eyes on you. You ignore them, leave the doors, and find that Finnick isn’t hiding too far away. You follow him into an empty hallway. 

He takes in a breath, “I heard that you sell potions.”

“Yup.” You stop a few feet away, “Who told you about me?”

“Annie. She said that you’d be able to help me.” He says.

Your eyebrows twitch, “What are you trying to fix?”

“Well, it hasn’t happened just yet. Hufflepuff could win the quidditch cup next game, and I don’t think I’ll be able to do it.” He runs a hand through his hair.

You know what he’s looking for. He wants Felix Felicis—liquid luck. It’ll ensure that everything he does in the game works in his favor so that they win. The only issue is that you don’t sell liquid luck to the quidditch players because it’s a sport aimed for talent, and it’s cheating. It’s the same reason why you didn’t take it before your tryout, it’s unfair.

You can feel your face fall, already beginning to shake your head to tell him no. He must’ve known this was coming, because he clasps his hands together.

“Please, (Y/n). I don’t want to lose this game.”

“And I understand that, but I don’t sell to quidditch players. It seems like Annie already told you I was going to say no, anyway. So why are you bothering?” You cross your arms.

“Because I thought you’d understand the pressure to succeed.” He says, “Everyone is expecting me to get the snitch, and there’s no way I stand a chance against slytherin. They crush hufflepuff every year.”

You almost want to tell him it’s a talent issue, but that’s a sure way to get on the bad side of Finnick. That’s the last thing you want, considering he’s fairly popular in the hufflepuff house, and a lot of people would turn on you for it. Although, you’ve gotten mouthy with plenty of other quidditch players before, and they’ve never turned around and gotten you in trouble.

“Did you tell the other quidditch players that you were planning to ask me this?” You ask.

“No, I told them that you were going to lend me notes for potions.” He says.

You reach into your bag, pulling out your placebo potions notebook, the one you use for class. The real one you have is filled with every detail on how to make a perfect potion. If Snape ever had that in his hands, and found out that you were studying like that, you’d get questioned for it.

You hold it out for him, “Here.”

“Please, I’ll do anything.” He says, taking your hand in his, “I’ll pay extra, if that’s what you want.”

“What I want is to not get in trouble because you’re reckless.” You raise your eyebrows, “So you’ll promise me that you will not breathe a word of this conversation to the professors. If they find out that I gave it to you, you’ll be banned from quidditch, and I’ll be in huge trouble.”

There’s a cute smile forming on his face, “I promise.”

“You’ll be paying triple the price because it’s last minute, and it’s against the rules.” You pull your hand away, “Felix Felicis takes six months to brew.”

“Thank you, (Y/n), I mean it.” He says.

“I’ll see you before the quidditch game on Saturday to give you the dosage so that you don’t kill yourself.” You give him a smile, “I want my notebook back after you win the game.”

“Sounds like a deal.”

—

You honestly thought that Finnick Odair had to be one of the most confident quidditch players you’d seen in your life. While everyone else hesitates when it comes to the snitch, he never does. He’s always on top of searching, even if there’s nothing to look for at the moment.

He might think that he doesn’t stand a chance against slytherin’s seeker, but he’s the reason why the hufflepuff team does. If it weren’t for him, they would’ve lost the last game that was played against gryffindor. The gryffindor’s had scored so many points against hufflepuff, and if they’d made another ball through the hoop, they could’ve won the game despite the fact that you guys caught the snitch.

There’s nothing scarier than being neck in neck with points. Gryffindor was behind by ten points, and right when they went to make another score, Finnick caught the snitch, letting you win by ten whole points. You don’t think you’ve ever seen a game that bad in a long time.

Besides, it’s not necessarily Finnick’s fault, it’s his teammates that are a bunch of dead weight. If they could block the hoops like they’re supposed to, then there wouldn’t be any close calls.

That’s why you’ve decided not to give him the potion. 

Finnick comes around the corner, and you immediately reach into your bag to grab the vial of pumpkin juice you dyed to look like Felix Felicis. You don’t think he’s seen a genuine bottle in his life, but you wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t call you out for it.

“Hey,” He breathes, shaking his hands to get the nerves out. They’re supposed to play any minute now.

“Hey.” You smile, carefully pouring a tablespoon’s worth of pumpkin juice. He takes it from you, making a face as he downs it. And just in case he’s done his research, you pour him one more spoonful.

“Doesn’t taste very good.” He murmurs.

“I could’ve told you that.” You laugh, “Got a breath mint?”

“No time, I’m going to be smelling on the field anyway.” He pulls out the galleons from his pocket, dropping them into your hand, triple the payment, just like you asked. When he wins the game tonight, you’ll give it back and tell him the truth. “When does it take effect?”

“You should feel it soon.” You shrug, “I’ve never taken it myself, but that’s what everyone else says. You should get back to the field.”

“Will you be watching?”

“Yeah, I’ll be sitting with Annie and them. I’m sure you’ll see us.” You nudge him to get walking, “We’ll be cheering you on. Good luck!”

“Thank you!” He waves, and then jogs off.

You drop the galleons into your back, cap the pumpkin juice, and then head for the stands, where you’ll be sitting for the next few hours. At the top of the staircase, you find your friends, who have chosen front row seats to ensure they’ll be able to see you.

As soon as you sit down, Annie is turning to you, “You better hope that he wins, he’ll be pissed if he finds out. I’ve been hearing the slytherins are planning to be aggressive today.”

“They’re always aggressive. And he doesn’t need luck.” You hold onto your bag tighter, “I believe in him.”

The game starts when Professor McGonagall throws the ball into the air. The balls and the quidditch players are nothing but a blur as they zip around. As promised by Annie, the slytherin’s aren’t even trying to hide the fact that they’re borderlining breaking the rules.

From the very moment the game starts, you’re on the edge of your seat. The quidditch commentator keeps everyone up to date with the score because the balls are flying back and forth. The scores are continuously going up, without a hint of slowing down. The hufflepuffs will be in a fifty point lead, and then the slytherins will pull moves you haven’t seen before, and then they’re in the lead.

You don’t think you’ve ever been so into a quidditch game before. All the other times you got bored halfway through and opted to go brew potions to catch up on orders. You guess it’s different now, because it’s personal. You just shorted Finnick Odair out of liquid luck, and if he loses, he’ll know it, too.

He’s already acting differently out there, he’s doing more than he usually would, and it’s helping his teammates keep consistent, while he searches for the snitch. Hufflepuff is currently at a seventy point lead, if they caught the snitch now, you’d win. However, neither team has even seen the snitch yet.

Hufflepuff scores another ten points, and you watch as a few of the slytherin players share a look, which is the sign they’ve given each other to step up their game. It seems as if Hufflepuff has caught onto it, though, because it’s a tough match. The bludgers are hit back and forth at players, nearly causing several concussions. And no matter how many times they throw the quaffle, it never makes it past the hoops.

This goes on for thirty minutes, everyone is getting increasingly frustrated, which means that the game needs to be ended before someone actually ends up getting hurt. You can see Finnick searching, and then his head suddenly darts to the left, and he takes off.

“Yes!” You cheer, getting to your feet to peer over the stands. This causes the whole crowd to follow you, realizing that Finnick could win the hufflepuffs the cup.

Finnick chases the snitch in between stands, around the hoops, under beams. He disappears several times, and comes back, still pursuing the snitch. The slytherin seeker has caught onto this, and he tries to keep up with Finnick’s pace, but Finnick’s always been persistent.

The slytherin seeker gets too close, Finnick slams his foot into the girls’ broom, sending her spiraling away into the tarp that covers the stands. While she tries to recover from this setback, Finnick has gained another inch on the snitch.

When suddenly, he reaches forward, and grabs it.

“Hufflepuff has secured the snitch!” The commentator roars over the microphone, “The game has ended! Hufflepuff wins with four hundred points, while slytherin loses with two-hundred and fifty!”

Everyone in your section erupts into noise, celebrating Hufflepuff’s win. There’s cheering, a few stray whistles, clapping and stomping to show pride. Finnick finds you in the crowd, and points at you.

You laugh, and then turn to Annie, shaking her shoulder, “I told you!”

“I’m sorry for doubting you.” She mutters.

“I’ll see you in a few, we should go get butterbeers.” You tell her, starting down the aisle, “You know, to celebrate.”

“Let’s meet at the fountain!” She shouts, you give her a thumbs up.

You’re one of the first people out of the stands, allowing you to get to the bottom much faster. You can be in there forever, taking it one step at a time because people like to fuck around on the staircase.

The quidditch players have already cleared the field, so you hurry to go and find Finnick before you lose your chance. You’re sure that they’re all going to go and hang out together to celebrate, and you won’t be able to speak to him alone until tomorrow. It isn’t that big of a deal, but you’re sure the guilt’s got to be kicking in at any minute.

A hand grabs your wrist, yanking you back. You turn to shout, expecting it to be an angry slytherin, but you’re met face to face with Finnick, who’s as pale as a sheet.

“I shouldn’t have taken that.” He mutters, you look behind you to make sure no one’s coming before pushing him behind a corner to talk to him. 

“Finnick—”

“What was I thinking? What if they find out?” He runs a hand through his hair. His breath still smells like pumpkin juice. And he wasn’t wrong when he said that he’d smell, he needs a shower.

“Listen to me—” You start.

“Why would you sell that to me?” He asks.

“Finnick!” You grab his arms, “It wasn’t Felix Felicis, I lied to you.”

He stares at you for a long second, blinks once, and then his eyebrows push inward, “What?”

“I gave you dyed pumpkin juice, I didn’t give you the real thing.” You tell him, reaching into your bag to pull out what he paid you. You take his hand and drop the galleons into his palm, “I’m not stupid enough to break the rules like that.”

He shakes his head, “You gave me pumpkin juice? What if I lost?”

You beam, “I knew you could do it without the luck, Finnick. You’re a talented seeker, you don’t need potions to win games. Did you see yourself out there? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you play better!”

Finnick laughs, “A placebo effect.”

“No, your true potential!” You smile, “I’m sorry for lying to you, but I couldn’t go through with it.”

“I’m glad you didn’t.” He rubs the back of his neck, “Do you have any plans?”

“Yeah, Annie and I are going to go to the Three Broomsticks.”

“Would you mind if I joined you?” He asks.

You shake your head, “No, I wouldn’t.”

[yansimstorythatiwillnotworkon]

#1

(For those who are deathly allergic to ocs in fan content, one of the ocs put in here isn't too important at the moment, but will be by the next week. Anyway, here's the first day of Osana's week.)

(Also, fair warning, there's a bit of cursing in here that's a tad bit more intense than in the game.)

__

April 2026, Week 1

Monday

“D-Don’t get me wrong!” Osana waved her hands to her friend as the two gossiped a tree or so away from Senpai. Ayano herself was sitting on the bench beside them. “Looks aren’t everything! For instance, I can’t get along with them if they’re as dumb as a rock! So, really, the most important thing is intelligen..”

“Musume!!”

Ayano flinched, being taken sincerely by surprise as Kashiko screamed for the self-proclaimed leader of their annoying little gang. Musume was already unbearable on her own for being such a senseless moron, but Kashiko was loud and obnoxious.

“Girl, you are not going to believe which of the long-skirted sluts are back.” Kashiko snickered, waving her phone teasingly to the taller girl.

“If this girl is so important, then why have I not heard of her?” Musume asked, crossing her arms with a lifted eyebrow.

The purple-themed girl grins, “Duh, cuz I see all the drama first? Maybe if you didn’t spend all your time in the damn plaza you’d see somethin’, too!” She shrugs, “Anyway! It’s Semaj..”

As Musume hears Kashiko whisper this, she scoffs, “Hell no, it is not Amise god damned Semaj.”

“Yes, girl, it is!” Kashiko giggled, “With how she totally quit last year, you would’ve thought that girl was dead!”

Musume rolls her eyes, “If only, huh? God, Hoshiko’s gonna be pissed to hear that Amise is back.”

“For sure! Amise always snitched on her pranks, didn’t she?” Kashiko said to her blue-themed friend, pulling out her phone.

“..where is that goody-two-shoes, anyhow?”

“Uh..” Kashiko smacked her teeth, pulling a finger up to her lips in thought. “The sewing room, I think? Pretty sure she’s chatting it up with that fugly femboy in there.”

Musume raised an eyebrow. “You mean that no-eyed weirdo?” She asked, and rolled her eyes when Kashiko nodded. “Man, she must think she’s the quirkiest girl in school, chatting it up with the loners.”

“Right?!” Kashiko cackled.

“Well, I’m gonna see what she’s been up to, then. See what I can stir up..” Musume hummed, waving her phone at Kashiko as if telling her to get back to her part of the school.

Ayano scoffs, looking back to Raibaru and Osana before realizing that they were just talking about their favorite cats instead of anything relating to Senpai. Ayano frowns, blaming those two for having screwed up her chance at learning more for her plans. In general, she hoped that she got the gist of whatever it was they were saying.

Ayano stands up but suddenly jumps at a voice behind her. “Hello, there.” She turns around, seeing a taller girl behind her. Judging from her general appearance, she assumed that she was one of the foreign kids that the Headmaster accepted in for the sake of having more students. Although Ayano didn’t recognize her.

“Hello.” Ayano responds blankly, although internally she wonders why she didn’t notice this girl approaching her. “Do I know you?” She asked, not very well attempting to hide her lack of interest.

“Well, no, but that’s why I’m here to introduce myself.” The girl puts a hand to her chest with a charming smile. “My name is Amise Semaj, I’m one of the exchange students from last year.”

Ayano nods, “Right.”

“I planned on introducing myself to all of the first years, but then I saw you and realized we hadn’t introduced each other either.” Amise hums, crossing her hands behind her back. “I guess it’s because I’ve been gone so long. But, it’s a pleasure to meet you, miss..?”

“..Ayano. Aishi.” Ayano responds, reluctantly taking and shaking Amise’s hand. It wasn’t often that anyone bothered introducing themselves to Ayano. If anything, if Ayano wanted to look good she would often have to walk up to them and do some sort of favor for them. Thankfully, the whole school was apparently made up of a bunch of morons who couldn’t do a simple essay.

Amise chuckles, “A pleasure to meet you, then, Aishi.” She says, folding her hands back behind her back. “I still have some first years to catch up on, but I hope you have a, uh..” She pauses for a moment, thinking of her next words strangely carefully. “..a productive day.” She says, before nodding and walking away.

Ayano merely hums in response, watching as Amise is suddenly shocked by Musume’s sudden appearance. Musume pulls her in for a quick and brief hug- so much so you would think that she was disgusted by it- before pulling out her phone to take a selfie of the two of them together.

Maybe that was just Amise’s thing, being popular with others, Ayano thought. It would be bad if she “witnessed” anything, then. Ayano would make sure to keep that in mind.

__

“Oh, hey! Hi!” Shoku Tsubaraya was apparently pretty popular with the other students. He was sweet, he baked often, and had an extreme passion for his club while the actual leader was away for a time.

Ayano looked around briefly as half of her attention was set on whatever Osana was saying outside. Apparently she liked the thought of joining the Cooking Club. But what good does that do Ayano? “..hi.” She replied stiffly.

Shoku cleared his throat awkwardly. “I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to you before.” He walks over to the counter and places one of the pastries on the napkin. “Do you like brownies?” He asks, holding one out to her.

“No.” The girl replies quickly as Osana and Raibaru continue on their way to the Drama Club. “I just came to look around.” She says, before swiftly leaving the room and heading for the next.

“Oh. Well, we hope to.. See you..” Shoku trails off before sighing in defeat. “..again.”

__

“Saaaaaalutations!”

Ayano frowned at how loud Tsuruzo Yamazaki’s greeting was, and he seemed to catch the hint and quiet down just a tad bit.

Raibaru spoke to Osana gently outside of the club room, and Ayano turned her gaze back to the purple haired fellow. “Hello.”

“Quite indifferent, aren’t you, my dear?” Tsuruzo lifts his hand up to his chin, smiling in thought as he looks Ayano up and down. “..actually… I think I recognize you! Gosh, who’s class were you in last year…”

Ayano quickly tuned Tsuruzo out before Osana explained that the Drama Club “wasn’t her type” of company. Rightfully so, the lot of them were insufferable for the most part.

The blank-faced girl blinks as Tsuruzo snaps his fingers in front of her. “Hello? Were you listening?”

“Ah, no. I spaced out. Sorry.” Ayano apologized half-heartedly.

With a sigh and a wry smile, Tsuruzo puts his hands on his hips. “I was asking your name, my dear.”

“Ayano Aishi.” As soon as she introduced herself, Tsuruzo’s expression lit up.

He laughs, “I knew I knew you! You were the one who fainted at the beginning of the year, weren’t you?” He recalls. Ayano frowns a bit in displeasure at the embarrassing thought.

Her fainting was the very first day that Ayano ever saw Taro. It made sense to her to be overwhelmed, although she told the nurse that she was simply feeling sick that day. Still, it was shameful that that was Taro’s first time noticing her. How embarrassing…

Tsuruzo on the other hand seemed quite pleased by the news he’d recalled. He didn’t seem to be laughing at Ayano specifically. Or at least, not for fainting like an idiot. “That was such a cute little act you put on! Good on you for getting out of classes for the rest of the day!” He smiled and Ayano blinked, a bit shocked.

It was true that she was allowed to just wander the school for the rest of the day thanks to that little incident. According to the guidance counselor she just needed some time to get used to her surroundings, since the day was “bound to be overwhelming” for some. Was that how people saw that day? Her trying to get away from classes?

Before Ayano could think any further, she noticed that Osana and Raibaru were departing this part of the hallway. “I’m going to go.” She says briefly, but Tsuruzo stops her.

“Ah-ah-ah, one moment.” He pulls a rose pin from his hair and hands it to Ayano. “The drama club could use such a good actress. I’m sure our leader would be pleased to have you.” He claims, before lifting a hand up to Ayano’s chin. “You also have an incredibly adaptable face.. I’d say you’re a perfect fit.”

Ayano pulled her face back, not entirely knowing what he meant by “adaptable”, but continuing on her way with a quiet, “Right..”

“Ah, think about it, Aya!” Tsuruzo calls. “You have a face fit for the spotlight!”

__

“O-Oh.” Shin turns, surprised by Ayano’s visit, but not shocked by her sudden appearance. “..hello, there.” Shin Higaku had a quiet, almost half-assed demeanor if you looked at it a certain way.

Amise was sure that to most people who looked at him he was just shy, maybe even intimidating due to his height. But as far as Ayano could tell, he just didn’t want to be here.

The entire club was very quiet, calm. The few members that were there were simply reading or chatting quietly about something. If anything, if Ayano were to join and was forced to attend an activity to stay in it, she would probably prefer it be in a club with a bunch of anxious losers.

Ayano looked behind her, noticing that she was able to see the hallway from inside the clubroom, although she didn’t know if it was actually one-way. She saw Osana speaking with Raibaru and talking about how creepy the club was. That much Ayano had to agree with. If the club lost the pentagrams it might be seen as some sort of reading club, which would likely be more popular.

“Your club looks interesting. I’ll consider joining.” Ayano says briefly, before tailing Osana upstairs.

“Farewell..” Shin says quietly, a bit louder now that Ayano was leaving.

__

“What? Whaddya want? Why are you interrupting me?!” Gema huffs, barely looking up to Ayano, and only having acknowledged her after she tapped him on the shoulder.

Ayano furrowed her eyebrows, but continued with her question. “What do you do in this club?” She asked.

“Uhh, can you not tell by the name?! What, do you have brain damage or something?!” He crosses his arms, although this only proves to make him look smaller due to his hunched over position. “I bet you came to look down on us, huh? Because we have a different hobby than you?! Actually, you don’t even do anything, do you? What, is staring at the sky more entertaining than practicing your hand-to-eye coordination? Is tha–”

“--what are the benefits to joining your club?” Ayano rephrases, hardly having the energy to refrain from rolling her eyes at his ranting. Even if there was some major benefit, Ayano would likely look for quite literally anyway to get it instead of dealing with Gema as her leader.

Gema raised an eyebrow, but eventually looked back to his game. “You know, since we’ve got tons of different games you can probably, uh.. “Boost your stats” in different aspects and whatnot. Like.. if you want to learn more about biology or writing or something or other, just play a specific game and you’ve pretty much got all the information you need.” He shrugs, no longer interested in conversing with Ayano.

“Right.” Ayano exhales, being released from Gema’s shrill voice only to be subjected to Osana’s whining about how playing games was childish. Ayano didn’t often play games, but considering how many games there were about murder, she thought differently.

“I’m going to move to the next club now.” Ayano comments, although as expected Gema doesn’t even bother to respond.

__

Ayano nearly winced when Budo spotted her. Even his general demeanor made him look… “loud”.

“Welcome to the Martial Arts Club!” And loud he was. “What brings you here?” Budo Masuta asks, holding out a hand for a hand shake.

Ayano reluctantly takes his hands, and gets a very firm shake in return. He was most certainly strong- and possibly the most fit person in Akademi. She could tell that much because of his height and build. Even with the knowledge she was taught about taking people down, Ayano would surely struggle- maybe even fail- against Budo in a one-on-one.

“I’m looking around. Deciding on if I’d like to join a club just yet.” Ayano responded. Despite having a distaste for Budo’s loud persona, she was still capable of holding a conversation with him.

Budo smiles, “Guess that’s my time to promote, then, huh?” He puts his hands on his hips, making himself seem even larger than before. “We study hand-to-hand techniques and specialize in self-defense.” He explains. “We’re not interested in starting fights, of course, but if anyone ever wanted to start one with us, we’d know how to not only defend ourselves, but fight back and apprehend the assailant as well!” He explains.

“That’s just the simple stuff, though. I’m sure our club can be of interest to you if you’re ever paranoid of.. Maybe walking home alone at night, or just have a problem with those delinquents out there.” Budo jabs a finger out the window to outside because that’s where the infamous delinquents usually hung out.

Ayano looks away in thought, catching that Osana wasn’t too interested in the Martial Arts Club either. How picky. As Ayano is thinking, Budo speaks up again in a slightly quieter tone.

“Sorry if I’m coming off a bit strong. I’m often told that I scare possible club members more than their own anxieties.” He explains, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Mm.” Ayano watches as Osana and Raibaru head towards the light music club. “I’ll think about it.” She responds briefly, making Budo’s expression light up.

“Great! Drop by anytime you’d like to spar with us!” He waves as Osana exits the clubroom.

__

“Yo!” Miyuji Shan, the current Light Music Club leader waved, putting down her guitar and standing up to greet Ayano. Before Ayano could respond, though, Miyuji smiles. “Hey, you’re pretty cute! But I think some red dye would totally make you rock that hairstyle!” She comments, pumping her fist a bit with a bright smile.

Ayano looks at her ponytail, messing with the end of it briefly. She wondered if Taro would like her better with some hair dye. If he liked Osana so much, maybe she could dye it orange? “..if you’re implying that I should become the red color to your band, just know that I’m no good with instruments.”

“Ha! You caught on to me, didn’t you?” Miyuji giggles. “Ah, well, it was worth a shot!” She shrugs. “But don’t worry about your experience- we can teach you everything! Hell, one of our members is sort of like a, uh- a jack-of-all-trades type card, y’know? She can teach you whatever instrument you’re interested in.”

Ayano hears Osana talk about how she wouldn’t want to join a club if she had no experience. She scowled, upset that she and her rival would think the same about anything. Except for how amazing Taro is, at the very least.

Miyuji lifts an eyebrow at Ayano’s lack of response, but shrugs and pulls a pin out of her pocket. “Well, that wasn’t a no, so take this and come back if you’re ever feeling it, alright?” Miyuji suggests, putting the pin in Ayano’s hand.

“..right.” Ayano nods briefly, tailing Osana and Raibaru over to the Art Club.

__

“Oh, hi.” Geiju Tsuburaya, apparently the brother of Shoku despite their varying appearances.

“What do you do in this club?” Ayano asks, folding her arms as she looks around briefly. There was all sorts of paint, good for making a mess, she assumed. She then looked at the painting smock that Geiju was wearing. That would be useful if she wanted to cover up some blood.. But she’d likely have to join the club in order to get it.

“We paint. We sculpt. We craft.” Geiju says irritatingly briefly.

Ayano looks around some more, noticing plenty of tapes, canvases, box cutters, pens.. A lot of items for a lot of uses. Despite the irritatingly silent leader, this club might be of good use, Ayano thought.

Geiju looks away briefly from his canvas. “Joining us?” He asked, although as Ayano looked away in thought, he turned back to his canvas.

“Maybe..” Ayano says quietly. Geiju nods in understanding as Ayano heads to the next club after Osana.

__

“Oh, hey!” Fureddo welcomes Ayano brightly, standing up from the table and stepping out of his club’s little curtain room to converse with her. “Welcome to our little getaway, heh.”

“Hello.” Ayano greets blandly, looking around the room. The clubroom was littered with random photos. Some looked to be very old school photos before they had decided to make the school a little more lively with other decorations. Some were of students last year, 3rd years who were off to college by now, and of course plenty of hangouts with the club itself. It seemed… welcoming, but not of any use.

Fureddo chuckles, placing a hand on his hip. “I recognize that look. Doesn’t look real professional, does it?” He asks, tapping his fingers against his hip with a wry smile. “Can’t say that it is, Yan-Chan.” He admits, before adding in a quiet voice, “Can I call you Yan-Chan?”

“No.” Ayano says in a dead tone, very much hinting to Fureddo that she was serious.

The photographer snaps his fingers with a nervous grin, “Got it…” He then continues with his previous statement. “Well, if I had to explain my club honestly, I’d say that it’s really just a place for us to have fun. You know, chill out..” He nods to the snacks on the table, “Pig out, make friends.. memories.. All that good jazz.”

Despite Fureddo’s friendly demeanor, Ayano only frowned. “So no benefits.” She guesses, crossing her arms.

“Nothin’ but the keys to the vending machines and a free camera.” Furredo shrugs. As he does, Osana can be heard loudly complaining about how she would rather join a club that takes itself seriously.

“Valid opinion.” Furredo comments, smiling, before lowering his voice. “But an awful loudmouth, isn’t she?”

Ayano scoffs, “I’m sure she’d be just as loud if I put tape over her mouth.” She claims, making Fureddo burst out laughing. He clearly didn’t expect such intense sarcasm from someone who was usually so bland.

“You’re fun, Aya-Chan.” Furredo chuckles, nodding to a box on the floor. It was labeled “cameras”, no doubt for all of his nonexistent future club members. “Even if you don’t wanna join, you’re always welcome to come hang whenever.”

Ayano nods at his statement, “I’m going now.” She says, leaving the room as Furredo bids her a last goodbye.

__

Info-Chan: Do you think I should give her a little jumpscare on her phone?

Info-Chan: You’d have to record it for me, though.

Yan-Chan: I am busy.

Info-Chan: You’re no fun.

Info-Chan texted her as soon as Osana started talking about just how weird the disappearance of the Info Club was. Ayano was subtly interested, simply because she knew nothing about her “accomplice”. That thought, though, quickly became just as uninteresting due to remembering that she did, in fact, have a job to do.

That job involved learning this brat’s interests, according to Info-Chan. This had all better be worth it with how much running around and socializing seemed to come with this particular task.

__

“Welcome.. To my lair!” Kaga Kusha, the infamous science club leader, welcomed Ayano as he opened his arms, as if she were to bask in his glory. Instantly, though, he shrunk back to his hunched over position and cleared his throat. “I-I mean, the science club. Ahem. What do you seek?”

Ayano blinks, unamused at whatever excuse of a “personality” this was meant to be, and looks away. “I’m just looking around.”

“Mm.” Kaga turns his back to Ayano, focusing instead on whatever it was he was working on. “Yes, well, come to me if you wish to join. You’d make an excellent test subject- erm.. An alright club member.”

Osana seemed to be paranoid about one of their devices blowing up. That sounded like a wonderful idea. If joining the science club gave her the ability to simply blow up her rival, then this stupid childhood friend could be gone sooner than she’d anticipated.

“Loud girl..” Kaga huffed, frowning at Osana’s remarks. “..our inventions do not blow up.. Or at least.. They haven’t… in at least a, uh.. Two years. When I first started attending Akademi. It was my fault.” He assured Ayano, although this only proved to heighten her disinterest in the club.

Ayano takes a long look around the room, attempting to find anything else that interests her. She spotted some sort of android that a student was working on, whatever weird changing room they had, and a small circular.. Thing. “What’s that?” She asked, pointing to it on one of the tables.

“Eh? Oh, that thing.” Kaga takes a couple of quick strides over to the item and lifts it up, turning it upside down. “Right, right, it’s, uh… I think this is Homu’s little.. Friend or other. Who knows. It cleans the floors. Liquid, that is, so it’s no good to the club.” Kaga claims, waving his hand dismissively and putting the item back down.

“What all does it clean?” She asks, looking at the robot curiously.

“Ah, y’know… water. Uh.. juice, I suppose, although it might gunk up the systems.. Not honey or… well, not anything too thick and not anything too sticky. I’d say honey about draws the line. Maybe.” Kaga shrugs, “Just ask Homu, she probably knows.”

Ayano frowns, clearly disliking Kaga’s unwillingness to answer any of her questions genuinely. “..right.” She sees Osana and Raibaru leaving, and takes that as her cue to leave as well. “..I’m leaving.”

“Yes, yes, have fun..” Kaga waves his hand dismissively as Ayano leaves.

__

Itachi sighs, tossing a towel around his neck as he approaches the waving Ayano. “What do you want?” He asks in his intimidating deep voice, crossing his arms.

“I’m looking for a club to join. I’d like to hear about yours.” Ayano explains simply as Itachi subtly catches his breath.

“Hmm, well..” He turns to the rest of the club, who were still running back and forth on the track. “We run in the morning, swim in the afternoon. It’s tough training- not just any novice can join and get good quick.” He rubs the towel on his face as he continues. “No one’s going to stop if you fall behind, but if you can keep up, you’re bound to improve. Practice makes perfect, as they say.”

Ayano nods, thinking it over. Osana claims that it would be strange being the only female in the club, but having a bat at Ayano’s hand would be very useful. “Do you use any of the other sports equipment in the gymnasium?” She asks, thinking of the dumbbells, the weight, the baseball bat.. All of those were dangerous enough to be useful to her.

“Not often.” Itachi shrugs. “We used them more when our old leader was in charge, but she’s away right now, so we just stick to the simple stuff. If you’re interested in it, you’re free to grab what you want, but it’s not likely that we’ll bother with it.” He explains.

“Got it. I’ll consider joining.” Ayano responds, and Itachi nods before turning to his club and beckoning them back to the changing rooms.

__

“Oh, hello, there Aya-Chan.” Uekiya beams at the lower classman. “It’s so nice of you to stop by. Are you interested in joining?” She asks, smiling sweetly at her.

“I’m looking at all the clubs available.” Ayano responds simply, and Uekiya nods with a smile.

“Well, I assure you that the gardening club is a perfect place for you to not only learn about plants, but enjoy taking care of them in a comfortable area. All of us members of the gardening club can always help you with anything you're confused about as well. Anytime you need, dear.” Uekiya explains as sweetly as ever, resting a hand over her heart with a soft smile.

“...and, what sort of tools do you have in the shed?” Ayano asks, nodding to the shed just behind Uekiya. The gardening leader smiles wryly, but answers.

She hums in thought, “A shovel for dirt, an axe for any weeds or thick vines, clippers for the same reason… rat poison to get rid of pests and.. So on and so forth.” She shrugs. “Why? Do you need something in there?”

Ayano shakes her head. “Not right now.” She pauses, realizing that that was a bit of a strange thing to say and then adding. “I don’t think I’d need it if I haven’t joined yet.”

Uekiya giggles. “That’s right, isn’t it? Well, if you’re ever interested just come to me and we’ll get you a lovely little flower of your choice, alright, dear?” She hums, patting Ayano’s shoulder gently.

“Right.” Ayano nods. In a way, she can see why Osana would feel so comfortable with joining this club. Uekiya seemed like a people pleaser, so it’s normal for her classmates to feel comfortable around her, Ayano assumed. “I’m going to get to class now.”

“Of course. I’ll have to get going here pretty soon as well. Have a nice day, Aya-Chan!” Uekiya waves with a pleasant-as-usual smile.

__

Ayano’s first day of the week was nothing short of disappointing. She followed all of Info-Chan’s advice, and yet in the end it amounted to nothing. What was she supposed to do with her likes and dislikes? Get into her good graces?

But then what about her bodyguard? That damned pigtailed martial arts god? Was she supposed to just spontaneously gain every ounce of strength that she needed to defeat her?

Budo could be of help in that case, considering that he was the only one able to defeat Raibaru. But even with his and her own combined knowledge of fighting, there were so many strings attached.

Joining the Gardening, Sports and maybe even the Light Music club would allow her to walk around with something dangerous without being seen as some delinquent or someone with malicious intent.

Additionally, the Light Music, Cooking and maybe even the Photography Club could help her seem somewhat pleasing to her peers by joining in friendly, sociable acts. 

The Drama and Occult Club could be good for hiding herself, considering the Occult Club’s general reputation and the Drama Club’s equipment.

And of course there’s the Science Club’s items, the Martial Arts Club’s general knowledge, and the Gaming Club’s… assets? All of these clubs could be of use in some way or another, but is it really worth going through all the effort?

According to Info-Chan, Ayano only had four more days to figure out some sort of elimination method, but from the looks of it, four days just wasn’t enough time.

Ayano sighs, standing up from behind the bush as Taro enters his home. As she does, there’s a sudden chime from her phone, indicating that Info-Chan had messaged her.

Info-Chan: I see that you realize how much of a bust your first day was.

Yan-Chan: Did you even have a plan when you made me do all of that?

Info-Chan: Of course, I had plenty.

Info-Chan: You’re just so slow.

Info-Chan: If you’d picked up the pace, I would’ve been able to give you the rest of my plan.

Info-Chan: I guess you really don’t want to get rid of Osana.

Yan-Chan: Don’t antagonize me.

Yan-Chan: You’re playing around with me, aren’t you?

Info-Chan: I’m only being honest.

Info-Chan: Maybe pick up the pace tomorrow, and we’ll see what we can do.

Info-Chan: Capiche?

Yan-Chan: Fine.

Although wondering if Info-Chan wanted to see Osana suffer or herself, she clearly had no time to fool around and find out. If she was going to get anything done, she had to hurry up and head back home.

It was a shame Ayano and Senpai lived so far from each other. It always took so long to get from his place to hers. But seeing him get home safe was worth it in Ayano’s eyes.

[fangirlingfromdownunder]

Seeking Comfort in Persuasion

Summary - Part 32 in the Comfort series

Pairing - Dean Winchester x Reader, Reader x Sam (platonic), Reader x Bobby (father-figure), Andre (OG Character) x Reader (best friends)

Series Masterlist | Masterlist 

He has his gun drawn as he opens the door cautiously. His body is tense. The second he sees you sitting there on his bed his face falls. He dumps his gun and keys on the table and uses the back of one of the chairs to steady himself as he calms down.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he says stiffly.

“Your note said I should find a man that makes me happy, provides for me and protects me … I’m just doing what you asked.”

“I can’t protect you. I just keep putting you in danger.”

You stand up and walk over to the table where he’s standing. You put one hand on top of his. “Everything you do is to protect me. You came here, to a fancy beachfront hotel in Miami to protect me. You and I both know this isn’t your scene, and that’s exactly why you’re here. It’s the last place I would’ve looked.”

He pulls his hand away from yours and paces around the room, his hands running through his hair. “You know exactly why I’m here then. And exactly why we can’t be together.”

You know he’s not going to give in easily. You can see how hard he’s trying to resist you and push you away. “I know what the demons said and what they want.”

“And what? You’re willing to just hand them exactly what they want?”

“No. But I am willing to let you get a certain procedure.” 

He spins around and gives you a confused look. “You’re willing to give up your dream of a family for me? You know how that makes me look and feel?”

You walk over to him and take his hands in yours effectively stopping his pacing and fidgeting. “For us. I don’t need a baby to be happy, Dean. I want a family, I have that already with you and Sam. And if we eventually do get out and want a family of our own then there are other ways. Plenty of couples can’t have children.”

“I won’t raise a child in this life.”

“I know, so you get the snip or whatever and we look into adoption when and if we ever get out.” He raises an eyebrow at you. “You can handle a little pain, right? Condoms and pills aren’t safe enough. If we agree on this we need a more permanent solution and it’s your blood they want.”

He starts to nod and then tries to pull away again but you tighten your grip. “Y/N …”

“You asked me a question once, did you mean it?”

“I’ve asked you a lot of questions.”

You slowly let go of his hands and take a step back and strip out of the flannel to reveal your white dress. He instinctively checks you out and he can’t hide his appreciation of this look on you. You step forward again and take his hands back in yours. 

“Dean, my love, I know how well you know me. So, I know that you know that I’m a romantic at heart. Despite my ability to hunt and kill things, you know that when I come home at night all I want is someone to cuddle up to and talk to about it all. No other man is ever going to understand what I’ve seen, what I’ve done … no other man will ever be able to understand me the way you do. You’ve been through everything I have and more, you get it. You know the mark it leaves. But you also know how to make me feel better. Even without words you know how to make me feel loved and like everything is gonna be okay.”

“Baby…”

“Dean Winchester, you asked me once, so now I'm asking you. Did you mean it?”

A tear slips down his cheek so you reach up to wipe it away, but as you do he catches your hand and brings it up to his lips. “Sweetheart, I can’t.”

“Just answer the question. When you gave me this ring, did you mean it?”

“Of course, I meant it. But…”

You can tell his resolve is breaking and you start to feel a little guilty for pushing too hard, so you change your approach. “I love you. You’re it for me, Dean. But I won’t force you into this if it’s not what you want, it’s not fair. You trying to break off our engagement in a letter wasn’t right or fair, but two wrongs don’t make a right. So, if you truly don’t want this … me … us … then I’ll respect that.” 

“You’ll never be safe as long as you’re with me. There’ll always be angels, demons and a whole array of other monsters trying to get to me and they’ll keep using you. I can never have children. How can you want this life? How can you want me?”

“You knew exactly what words to write. You know exactly the man I want. Someone I can depend on. There’s no one I depend on more than you.” You bring one of his hands to your waist as you hook yours around his neck. Even in the heels you have to get on your tip toes but you do as you bring your lips to his in a soft kiss. You feel his hand bunch the fabric of your dress in his fist as he pulls you closer deepening the kiss.

When he pulls back so you can both get air he takes the opportunity to make you take a step back and spin you around so he can fully admire your outfit. Then he pulls you back to his chest. “You’re absolutely stunning by the way.”

“What exactly does that mean?”

“Just that you’re beautiful. I know this isn’t exactly your look or your comfort zone, but I wish it was. I wish it could be. You know I think you look sexy in anything, and nothing at all, but this look is really something. All white too, this is all deliberate isn’t it? You’re serious? You still want to marry me?”

“I do.”

He closes his eyes as he presses his forehead to yours. You can tell he’s trying to be strong and find another reason or way to push you away. Knowing he’s so close to giving in, you stay quiet in his embrace hoping that he’ll give in. 

“But I can’t do this to you,” he says eventually.

“I know you think you’re putting me in danger, but what about everything else you do to and for me? The love, the protection, the comfort, the support, the pleasure,” you say winking at him as you say your last word.

He throws his head back sighing. “You’re not gonna take no for an answer, are you?”

“Not when you’re saying it for the wrong reasons. Not when you don’t really mean it and you’re trying to torture both of us.”

“It’s a terrible idea.”

“Maybe. But does this really feel that terrible to you?” You ask as you hug him tighter and lean up to kiss his chin. “I do get a say in my future, don’t I?”

“Like I can stop you. I wish I could, but trust me to fall for a powerful woman that knows what she wants and how to get it.”

“How much longer and harder are you gonna make me fight for what I want? My hair, makeup and mani-pedi are going to waste here. Will you agree to marry me already?” When he doesn’t reply you continue, “you know I’m not some damsel in distress. I’ve been looking out for myself for a long time before I met you and since. I love knowing someone else has my back always, but I don’t need you to protect me and choose my battles for me. I just need you to love me. Can you do that, baby?”

With tears running down his cheeks he nods. You reach up and wipe away his tears and kiss his lips again. 

“I’ll never stop protecting you. No matter how much of a badass you are,” he says through his tears.

“I can live with that. What d’you say we go get married?”

Much to his dismay, you pull away. You go to the bathroom and wet a cloth and bring it back to him. You gently dab it along his cheeks and under his eyes cleaning up his tears.

“Look at you, always looking after me. Don’t think I didn’t notice you cleaned this place up too.”

“Purely selfish, I plan to consummate our bond in a pizza-grease-free bed. Plus I couldn’t risk staining this dress before our wedding.”

He pulls you close and kisses you. “I imagine you’ve got some big plans planned then … if you’re sure there’s definitely no talking you out of it.”

“Just tell me you want this. I want this … you more than anything but I need to know you’re actually onboard, Dean. Please, tell me you -“

“That I want you? More than anything, Sweetheart. Especially in this dress. You know I love you more than anything. But you promise, no kids. I know you're too stubborn and will always get your way, it's one of the reasons I fell in love with you in the first place, but I can't bring a child into this life. I need to know you're okay with that."

You nod as you pull him in for another kiss. "You have my permission to get the snip. And I even bought condoms for tonight."

"You're so perfect. Let's get to the consummation part already. I'm so ready to be down with this chastity thing."

You peck his lips once more before grabbing his hand and leading him towards the door.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

A/N: What do we think? Are we ready for a Winchester wedding?

Tag list: (Leave a like or comment on this post or let me know below if you want to be added to the tag list for this series)

@bitchwitch1981, @muhahaha303, @justrealizedimmascifygurl, @mcdowell-123, @leigh70, @marvelsmarauder, @losa12308, @tapedeck-hearts, @luvjaida, @peachtxa, @ambearsstuff, @shadow-of-a-cloud, @slut-for-buck, @iprobablyshipit91, @sassy-pelican, @fallenlilangel99, @heavenlyhopeful0, @nelachu2423

[isuckatwritingsobenice]

Can I request yandere dipper x fem!s/o hc who gives off wedsenday addam's vibes? (and has a thing) from the 2022 show? thanks

anon 🖤💀

Of course! Thank you so much for your request!

Navigation

Art not mine!

You caught his attention quickly, well, to be fair you catch everyone’s attention quickly

You stood out a lot in California, for your clothes but also because of your personality

Maybe if you had moved to Gravity falls you would’ve been stuck with Robbie instead

Your family had built a house on a hill, similar to the Northwest family, the only difference being your family’s house looked… old, and very out of date, but that’s why your family loved it

Dipper had seen you sitting on the sidewalk looking in a book and that was it for him

He didn’t approach you, not like he needed too you already knew he was staring at you

However, when you both had gotten to school and Dipper saw you in his class he knew it was for sure over for him

The teacher had been asking everyone ice breakers, trying to get to know them

“ Y/n would you like to tell us a little bit about yourself?” Your teacher had asked, and suddenly all eyes were on you.

“ No, I think I’m quite fine.” You replied, tone dry and filled with a uninterested look back down to your book.

“ Y/n I think it would be nice for us all to get to know you. There’s no need to be shy.” The teacher said smiling, trying her hardest to get you to talk. To no avail.

“ If you insist. My name is Y/n, I hate everything and a fun fact for you all is bother me again the only thing you’ll be asking yourself is where your bones went while I dip you in acid limb by limb.”

Dipper blushed, partially out of fear and partially out of infatuation

After class you had been sitting in the library all alone for lunch. You had a book in front of you and a sandwich next to you.

“ This is it Dipper. Time to talk to her.” He thought, before walking over. As he reached for the chair in front of you, you stood up putting your hand out to stop him.

“ No I am not interested being your friend. No I do not want to do any extracurricular activities with you. I will not be in your presence longer than I need to be. I’ve seen you before and I wish I would’ve gouged my eyes out that very movement. Do not try to talk or approach me again or it will be your immortal soul that pays the price. Laisse-moi tranquille. Have a horrible day.”

With that you took your things and left, leaving a confused and heart-broken Dipper in your wake. But this doesn’t stop him, not one bit.

It makes him want you even more.

He stares at you a lot, and you know this, and every time your eyes meet you’re sure to give him a death stare, to which he looks away.

Unfortunately for you, your teacher had paired you both up for a project. You wanted to die, per usual. Dipper was over the moon.

“ So when do you want to get started on the project?” Dipper asked as you both sat in silence. While the rest of the groups were chatting.

“ As soon as possible. I fear being around you too long will infect me with the one disease I am not immune too.” You stated, never blinking once. Dipper raised his brow, nervous as he began o sweat a bit.

“ Um, can I ask what disease?” Dipper asked, not sure if he really wanted to know.

“ Socializing.”

It takes you a long time to even have a conversation that lasts more than two minutes with Dipper

He caught your interest by mentioning an abandoned house he was going to check out with Mabel

it caught your attention

and dipper noticed

he was so happy to finally be able to do something with you, to bond

“ Do you want to come with us?” Dipper asked, as you both were cleaning up from your project

“ Hm. I suppose. It’s either that or I rein-act the time I first went to summer camp.” You replied, earning a confused look from Dipper.

“ What happened?” Dipper asked

“ I burned the pilgrim set to the ground and escaped.” You replied, before walking away from him and out of the classroom with your things

You know he likes you

You also know that gets extremely nervous whenever you both are close to one another

“ I assume it’s because he’s close to death whenever we’re together.” You tell your mother, as you pack your bag to get ready to go to the abandoned house

“ Have fun sweetheart. Bring back a corpse if you can. I need new decore for my dining room.” You say as your mother kisses your cheek.

When you met with Dipper and his sister, Mabel

“ Hi! I’m Mabel, Dipper’s twin.” She said excitedly, before going to hug you. You stopped, holding your hand out with a scared look.

“ I don’t hug.” You said, before she giggled.

“ Aww don’t be shy, everyone hugs.” She said smiling before coming closer to try and hug you.

“ Mabel really,” Dipper said, grabbing her by the shoulders and turning her to face him

“ She said she doesn’t hug leave her alone.”

You were secretly grateful Dipper interrupted his sister, as you all made your way into the abandoned house

“ I’m going to the basement.” You said, earning a surprised look from Mabel

“ Isn’t that the worst part of the house?” You asked.

“ Yes. I will rejoice in despair as I become one with the spirits left behind.” You said, descending down the stair case.

“ I’ll go with you.” Dipper said not leaving room to retaliate

“ Is it dead?” Dipper asked as you both came across an unmoving mouse

“ Does it matter?” You asked, walking past it. As you got to a dark corner you took your bag and placed it in front of you,

“ Thing. Grab that mouse and put it in this jar, don’t let Dipper see. Something is off about this house, that mouse might help us know why.” You say, letting thing sit on the ground.

“ Oh also,” You said, thing standing still

“ Something is weird with Dipper. He’s overly clingy. follow him for a while and report back.”

Thing waved his hand around, saying he wasn’t going to stalk a child

“ What if he’s a shape shifter? We would never know if you don’t find out. stop whining and go.” Begrudgingly thing left, and you emerged from the shadows, watching Dipper look at the walls of the basement.

‘I know there’s something off about you Dipper pines.’ You thought.

[vdragon-creations]

Spring Stars! (Part 2) A Date By Any Other Name!

(2003 Donatello x Sasha Fic)

✨💛💜✨

Author’s Note: Holy shit, it’s been a hot minute since I made Part one! I just wanna say a quick thank you (and a very big sorry) to those of you who read it! Means a lot to me that you even attempted to sit through my garbage writing! And now, you’re here looking for more punishment, and deliver it I shall! Plenty of OCxCC ship trash to go around, and more art with it too! Also, MAYBE a slight CW on this one for mentions of possible Spicy thoughts & a little angst! Other than that, it’s all just some fun character interactions! There will also probably be one more part to this story because I love torturing myself, and I can't seem to make anything easy! So enjoy! :3

✨💛💜✨

“Is this a… date?”

The question felt like a switch being flipped, turning the world around them into nothing. Donnie froze, feeling his heart start to pound. He hadn’t really planned for this kind of question, and to him this didn’t FEEL like a date. Though, thinking back on what he had in mind for this outing, it did seem like one. The idea making his face burn even more. But, he had to be honest, the look on Sasha’s face was more studious, and she’d surely be able to tell if he was trying to lie.

“W-we don’t have to call it that just because tht’s what everyone else does. It can be a j-just two friend having fun and getting to know each other better!” Donnie said, nervously smiling as he gulped. Sasha chuckled a little while an unsure grin came to her lips, “That sounds like a date though…” “Fair…” Donnie admitted. There was another pause between them, Sasha now looking at the floor again, then back up at Don. She approached him, getting in so close that Don felt the need to back up, but he stood his ground. While not being much taller then Donnie, Sasha’s stature always made it seem like she was bigger then him. This was a test, and she stared him down to see if there were any signs of wavering. And he just stared back.

“So…what do you say?” Donnie asked, trying to break the silence. Sasha tucked her bottom lip in a bit, her eyes not leaving him. The look in her eyes was thoughtful, then she opened her mouth to speak.

“YO GUYS! WHAT’S THE ETA ON THAT POPCORN? YOU TWO LOVE BIRDS DONE YET?”

The interruption from Mikey calling out for them, along with the ensuing swoons from others mocking them as well, made them both quickly jolt back from one another. Sasha actually seemed rather pissed off by it and she growled back, “ROME WASN’T BUILT IN A DAY! AND NEITHER IS GOOD POPCORN! JUST SETTLE YOUR SHELL!” The others could be heard laughing in the background. Sasha caught her breath and hissed a bit in irritation, before sighing, looking back at Donnie with a disappointment look. “W-we’ll talk more after the movies. Okey?” Donnie had caught his breath too, but now looked disappointed. “S-sure…”

With that the two finished making the Popcorn, and finally came out to the living room where everyone was waiting to start the movie. “Bout time you two joined us! Donnie burn something again?” Raph teased. “Nooo, he actually did quite well. Though maybe it would’ve been done faster if SOME turtles had tried helping out!” Sasha chastised, only to be met with the remaining three turtles looking away, whistling a tune. Sasha rolled her eyes, looking over to April, hoping to get some actual conversation going! “Soooo, did you guys finally decide what to watch? I’m pretty curious!” April nodded, putting in a DVD, “Yep! Casey’s movie is the first!” “Booyah! You’re gunna love it! You’re from like, the desert and stuff, right? The Mummy is the best horror film ever!”

Donnie placed down a few bowls of popcorn onto the coffee table, as Sasha moved over to the side of the couch, still holding a huge bucket of popcorn for herself and Leatherhead. “The Mummy? What’s so scary about Mummies?” She seemed genuinely confused. “You don’t think they look creepy! Dead bodies wrapped in bandages, trying to eat your brain!” Casey argued, getting up and out of his seat and lunging at Sasha playfully, imitating a mummy. Sasha’s ears tilted back, and she stepped back from him, “Yeah…mummies aren’t like that at all! Having seen some up close, they’re more fascinating then anything. You humans are spooked by the weirdest things…”

Casey scoffed, sitting back down and crossing his arms, “Says the girl who can’t look at a kiddy pool without getting shaky…” He muttered under his breath to April, who rolled her eyes at him. “What was that Jones?” Sasha hissed as she turned her head to look back at him, her ears still back. “N-Nothin’! Nothin’ at all!” He scrambled to keep her from jumping him, April and the others having to stifle giggles. “That’s what I thought…” Sasha huffed, turning her attention on trying to find a seat.

Sasha quickly noticed that all the seats where taken on the couch and chairs, with only Leatherhead sitting on the ground, as he was far too big to sit on anything really. As small as she was, she still didn’t like the idea of having to squeeze into any of the seats, getting a little too close for comfort with anyone. But he didn’t need to worry as Leatherhead patted his lap, sitting cross legged on the ground. “It’s easier to share popcorn this way.” He said, giving her a warm and toothy grin. Sasha thought nothing really about it, and agreed. Walking over to him and plopping herself down in his lap. Being this close to Leatherhead was pretty normal to her, having spent plenty of nights by his side, calming him down from his nightmares and helping him get to sleep. However, it was a new sight for a certain terrapin ninja. Donnie had scooted into the couch next to Mikey and Honeycutt, and if she had asked, he would’ve gladly moved to the floor. But instead, here he was, staring at his crush in the lap of another large male mutant!

The normally levelheaded turtle had to admit to himself, it made his heart sink and his blood boil. Truthfully he’d always envied, to some degree, how close Leatherhead was to Sasha. She lived with him, spent most of the day with him, and judging by how comfortable she was touching him and sitting in his lap, spent a lot of time getting…cozy with him. As the movie started on the TV, Donnie started to feel a bit sick, watching Letherhead and Sasha in the corner of his eyes. He’d hold out his hand, and Sasha would take a bit of the Popcorn and place it into his palm.

“Why isn’t she like that with us? With me?”

And after she left his offer for a date unanswered, it made this even harder to watch.

✨💛💜✨

Movie after movie, the night continued, until it was time to start getting to bed. Everyone set up sleeping bags, pillows, and blankets in the living room. Casey and April shared the couch, Mikey and Donnie taking up the Lazyboy chairs, and the others all scattered along the floor. All except Honeycutt who decided to return to Leatherhead’s lair. While getting ready for bed, Donnie ran into Leatherhead, who was washing the bowls and cups they had used all night. “Oh, Donatello! I need to ask you, which soap do you tend to use for your dishes? The Green Apple scent or the Original?” Leatherhead asked, turning his head to see his turtle friend standing in the doorway. Donnie was stunned for a moment, as he wasn’t sure how to feel. His voice was caught between wanting to snap at him cause he was still upset about Sasha. But the more rational side of him told him to cool it for now. He shrugged, “Oh uhhhh, I think we use Original…” he replied, sounding a bit mopey as he crossed the room and grabbed a cup from the cabinets, doing his best to not make eye contact. But Leatherhead noticed immediately, “What is wrong my friend? You seem upset.” Donnie stayed still, staring at the cup in his hand, trying his best to not snap at him, debating on whether or not to say anything.

“I really don’t have the right to be upset. I don’t own her…” Donnie said flatly. His eyes flew wide open, and he gasped a bit at what just came out of his mouth. He really didn’t wanna say it out loud, but it just…came out. Even Leatherhead was a little spooked, it was a tone he had never heard from his terrapin friend. He sounded almost, bitter and childish. “What are you talking about? You don’t own who?” As soon as he said it, it’s like the answer came right to the front of his mind, but it still didn’t make sense. “Are you…talking about Sasha?” Hearing her name come from Leatherhead’s mouth brought Donnie back to reality, and brought back his earlier frustration. That’s when he finally looked up at the taller reptile, with a face that made Leatherhead actually step back for a second. “Look, Leatherhead. I-I…need you to be honest with me!” Donnie started, he looked like a mixture of determination, worry, and possibly anger. “Of course my friend…” Leatherhead’s brows turned down in concerned confusion.

Donnie sucked in a breath, clenching his fist before finally breathing out, a slight shake coming from the puff of air. “Are and Sasha…involved at all?” The words felt painful coming from his lips, the meaning of which almost made a tear come to his eyes. Even his voice hitched as he spoke. He trusted Leatherhead so much, he was one of his closest friends. For sure he knew how he felt about Sasha, even without being told directly! And if he was having a relationship with her while knowing this, it was a betrayal on a level he hadn’t dealt with before. Leatherhead’s eyes went wide as the words finally met his ears, his jaws gaping open in an attempt to speak. “W-what? Have you gone mad?” “Just please answer me Leatherhead!” Donnie snapped back, he was trying his best to sound tough, like he wasn’t about to cry. And still trying not to be heard by the others. “I-I don’t know what you’re going on about friend! What Sasha and I have is purely platonic. Nothing more! Where on earth would you get the idea otherwise?” Leatherhead asked, but Donnie didn’t answer back, he just stood there, keeping eyes contact with him. That’s when it hit him.

“This is about her sitting on my lap…” he stated, his voice starting to sound less startled and more cold. If the Croc was being honest, he was kinda offended by the implications this question brought on. “And the touching and the feeding you popcorn…” Donnie added, starting to sound a bit more argumentative. A growl started to form in Leatherhead’s voice now, “You can’t be serious Donatello! I would never-“ Before he could finish his words, Sasha’s voice coming from the doorway spooked both of them. They whipped their heads to see Sasha standing there clutching a couple of chip bags that were now rolled up and clipped shut. She had a confused look on her face, looking back and forth between the two. “Did I interrupt something?” She asked.

“So…she didn’t hear anything…”

The thought alone made Donnie relax a little bit and he stammered out a response. “N-No nothing really.” Sasha squinted a bit at him, then looked at Leatherhead, who straightened up at her gaze. “Yes, nothing really too pressing.” Yeah, she didn’t buy that for a second, looking back and forth between the two again. “Alright then…well…I’ve got these leftover chips. Where would you like me to put them Donnie?” She asked. Donnie stuttered a bit but approached her “I’ve got it for you!” He took them from her arms and walked over to a random cabinet and shoved them in there. “Ah! I s-see…thanks…” Sasha said, feeling a little weird now. It was clear the two were in the middle of a conversation, one she wasn’t welcome to, so she made herself scarce. Sasha then stretched and yawned, “Well then, I’m just gunna…uhh start getting our blankets ready Leatherhead!” She chirped. “Thank you Sasha! I’ll be over to help in a minute!” Leatherhead nodded her way, prompting the turtle to give him a side glance. Sasha nodded back, giving the two of them another look before walking off.

There was silence once more between them, before Leatherhead huffed and looked back down at Donnie. The Turtle already looking back up at him. “I don’t know what is going on with you my friend, but I’d never willingly hurt you. I’d hope that after what happened with bishop and your transformation, I would have proven myself more then loyal to you and your brothers.”

“Ouch…he really had to go there…”

Donnie bristled a bit at that. It had happened a while back. And while he didn’t remember anything that happened during it, from everything Leatherhead and his brothers told him, he was a lot to deal with. He didn’t know if Sasha had been told the story of that or not, but the thought of her knowing made him cringe a bit. With that, Leatherhead went back to the dishes, turning his back to Donnie.

✨💛💜✨

After getting something cold to drink from the fridge, Donnie left the kitchen to see everyone getting settled down for the night. Including Sasha, who was making a big spot on the floor for Leatherhead. A smaller spot lay right next to it. Sasha, looked up for a split second to see him staring. Her face becoming a bit flustered. Donnie bit his lip and quickly walked over to his bedroom. Raph happened to look up and see him making a beeline for his room and let out a quick “Yo Donnie!”, prompting the purple clad turtle to stop dead in his tracks, squeezing his eyes shut in embarrassment. “What are you doing? We agreed on a full crew sleep over!” He had to think fast, come up with an excuse, any excuse that would keep him out of the same room where Sasha and Leatherhead would be laying together.

“Oh uhh, yeah I know! I-I was just gunna work on something real quick, just till I get sleepy! Then I’ll join you guys!”

Donnie chirped, just as Leatherhead came out of the Kitchen. He turned his head just in time to meet eyes with the Croc once more, then he looked back at the others, the ever friendly smile still on his face. “Promise! You guys just go ahead without me!” The others looked at one another confused, meanwhile Sasha just looked at him confused, ears tilted low. Leatherhead himself looking at the turtle with a stern stare. With that, Donnie booked it into his room and shut the door behind him, breathing in a sigh of relief, shell against the door.

After his retreat the others decided to play a few card and board games to wear themselves out. But the whole time, Sasha seamed a bit, distracted. Leatherhead had to get to the bottom of this. It was clear now to him that something had to have gone down between both of his friends. It was the only way to explain Donnie’s sudden jealousy. So after excusing himself to the kitchen, he gestured for Sasha to come with him. Sasha was confused, but agreed, as she was pretty thirsty. Once she entered the kitchen, Leatherhead was leaning against the countertop, staring right at her with an expectant look on his face. She flinched a bit, but then tried to play it cool. “H-hey big guy, what’s up?” “I was hoping you would know.” Leatherhead responded flatly, letting his thick tail flop loudly on the ground behind him. “Know about what? I don’t fallow.” Sasha asked, now genuinely curious and a bit annoyed. Leatherhead was quite for a moment, looking like he was trying to choose his words carefully. “Donatello is acting strange, and I was hoping you’d be able to tell me why.” Sasha raised a brow, her lips turning into a frown, “Well, yeah, he’s acting weird. But why would I have anything to do with it? The more likely thing is that whatever it was you two were talking about in here earlier is what set him off.” Sasha shot back, crossing her arms, “Maybe I should be asking YOU why he’s acting weird.”

Leatherhead snorted loudly, narrowing his eyes at the feline. “You know, Michelangelo told me he overheard you two talking earlier in here…” Sasha seemed to freeze as her eyes widened, her face somehow starting to burn with embarrassment. She gulped, but tried to play it off, though her tone wasn’t convincing at all, “W-What did he hear?” “He didn’t give any details, said that the two of you were far too quiet to be understood. But whatever it was, it was charged. So to speak.” Sasha’s eyes looked down at the floor, as she absentmindedly sighed. Both with relief and frustration perhaps. Then her eyes looked back up at Leatherhead, still a bit miffed at this interrogation, “Still not sure where you’re going with this then.” Leatherhead hummed a little under his breath, before deciding it was better to be blunt about this. “Donatello seems to be a bit jealous with our relationship.”

Sasha’s face went from annoyed to being downright stunned in a matter of seconds. And she just stood there, mind spinning like a video game loading screen, before words finally started forming in her throat, “I-I w-what? How does that work? What do you mean by our ‘relationship’!?” Sasha asked, in a hushed but clearly angered tone. Doing her best to keep the others in the living room from hearing. Leatherhead shrugged, “He just really seemed to be upset with how close we seemed. Especially physically. Had a problem with you sitting in my lap during the movie and handing me popcorn.” Sasha shook her head and started rubbing her temples in frustration. A hissing sound escaping her lips. “I told him that he should be able to trust me, given our history together. But I wanted to know if there was actually something going on between the two of you that I should know about. Because I’m clearly missing something.” Leatherhead added. Sasha huffed, now crossing her arms. Having her back turned now at the Croc.

Even from behind her, he could see her staring at the ground, her tail and ears twitching with aggravation. Clearly thinking. He gave her a few moments, before her ears drooped in defeat and she sighed, “Promise me! This doesn’t leave this room!” She looked back at him over her shoulder. Leatherhead silently nodded. Sasha then turned to face him, eyes still low to the ground and arms crossed in front of her, but now her cheeks actually started to show a slight pink hue. “D-Donnie sorta…asked me out…” She muttered.

There was a pause, and Leatherhead’s eyes slowly widened.

“Oh!” He said, finally putting two and two together. Sasha growled and her eyes snapped up at him, she wasn’t sure why, but his almost lackluster reaction to this news pissed her off. “Oh! Just Oh!?” “Sorry! Sorry I just wasn’t expecting that! You mean like…asked you out! As in a date?” Leatherhead asked. Sasha’s irritation dropped a bit and she shrugged, “He said we didn’t have to call it that. Just two friends hoping to get closer to one another and understand their feelings more…” She muttered, looking back down at the floor. Leatherhead raised and eyebrow at that, a slight smirk tugging at his lips, “That sounds a lot like a date.” “That’s exactly what I said.” There was another pause.

“So, did you say yes?”

“No…”

“You rejected him?”

“What? No! W-we got interrupted before I could give him an answer…”

“Ooohhhhh…” he said, looking off to the floor. Mulling over this new information. Now Donnie’s attitude made a lot more sense. To pour your heart out and finally ask out the girl you’ve been crushing on for the last few months, only to then have no clear answer and watch as she gets closer to another dude. And his close friend at that! He’d be a bit miffed too. Maybe even violent. Though, Sasha can’t really be held responsible for this alone. “So what did you end up telling him?” He asked, finally looking back at her. “I told him that we would talk more about it after the movie. But…then I saw you two in here talking, and now Donnie seems awfully upset…” Sasha responded, leaning against the counter. Leatherhead sighed, This whole thing was a bit of an emotional mess. And communication would be the obvious answer. “You need to tell him your decision tonight. Irreparable damage could be done to your relationship if you don’t let him know soon. And frankly, I can’t stay. I’ve never seen Donatello so angry before, and while I won't hold it against him, if I stay the night, I’ll only make it worse…” Leatherhead muttered. Sasha’s ears drooped, he was right. This needed to be settled soon.

With that, Leatherhead left the room with Sasha closely following. He said his goodbyes to the others, but explained that he had to head back home to be with Professor Honeycutt.

As he left, Donnie peaked ever so slightly out of his door, to see Leatherhead leaving…with Sasha close behind him. It stung, he couldn’t deny that! But, he also couldn’t blame them. After being the kind of ass he was being, he’d be surprised if either of them wanted to talk to him ever.

“So much for…getting closer and figuring things out…”

With regret and shame in his heart, he slumped back over to his bed and flopped down onto it.

✨💛💜✨

A few hours had passed since Donnie passed out, and he looked over at the clock across the room. “2:30 a.m…” he muttered, yawning as he did so. He felt his mouth was dry and his head seemed to hurt quite a bit. “Should probably get some water…” he thought, before remembering that the others were still in the living room, and that he had promised to come out to join them all. He cringed, guilt tugging at his nerves. He tiptoed over to the door and peaked out again, relieved to find everyone had fallen asleep. The pressure of them badgering him was now gone, and replaced with a new fear and mission. “Get to the kitchen and get some water without waking them.” He thought.

As silently as he could, he cracked the door open and stared tiptoeing his way to the kitchen, putting his ninja training into practice. Only stopping shortly to look over at the entrance to the Lair, more guilt seeping in as he remembered seeing Leatherhead and Sasha leaving together. But, he got to the kitchen without waking anyone, and he quietly got a small cup and turned the faucet on. After filling his cup, he peaked out of the kitchen, and after seeing that the coast was clear, he tiptoed back to his room.

He turned to softly close the door behind him, but as soon as he turned back to look at his bed, he saw Sasha sitting there. Blue eyes staring right at him in the dark room. The surprise alone of someone being there, made him flinch and almost scream, but he was stopped when Sasha zipped off the bed and was now in front of him, covering his mouth with the back of her hand. “Shhhhh! It’s me, relax!” She whispered harshly. After a few seconds of hyperventilation, Donnie blinked a bit and relaxed, Sasha then moved her hand away from him and stepped back. “W-when did..” he tried asking, but Sasha answered promptly, “About the time you were on your way to the Kitchen. You stopped and looked my way. Thought you saw me, but it didn’t seem like it…” “Oh…I see.” He muttered, then froze realizing that his cup was missing and nearly having a heart attack, thinking that he dropped it and alerted the others. But just as the thought crossed his mind, he saw Sasha holding up the cup in the dark. “Getting yourself a drink after working for so long?” She said softly, a tinge of sarcasm and bitterness in her tone. Donnie’s heart shriveled up a bit. She knew he was lying.

Donnie took the cup from her fingers and chugged it down, but it really didn’t help much, her being here like this made his stomach feel sick. The silence between them was the loudest thing in the world now, and it made Donnie feel so clammy. But he had to say something. But once again, Sasha spoke first. “Leatherhead told me everything…” And just like that, Donnie’s heart dropped to the floor so hard he was surprised it didn’t wake everyone in The Lair. He felt heat rise to his cheeks and he felt tears beginning to come to his eyes. “I-I don’t know what came over me…” he started, “…and I’m sorry…” “I’m not really the one who needs to hear that…” Sasha piped up. “I know, and I plan to tell him sorry in the morning. But, I’m also sorry to you…” Sasha raised an eyebrow at that. Donnie sighed, “I had no right to act Ike that. You didn’t belong to me, you still don’t, and you never will. I was being selfish, entitled, jealous, and…just plain stupid…” he said, taking a seat over by his deck, slumped over, face in his hands.

Sasha kept her eyes on him the whole time, and after hearing that, a soft red started to creep up on her cheeks. She stayed silent for a bit, waiting to see if he would say more. But he didn’t, so she continued, “You’re the furthest thing from stupid Don. Cut yourself some slack. Not every guy out there can admit that sorta thing out loud, ya' know?” Donnie let out a dry chuckle, no humor was there though. “I don’t know if I should be praised so highly. After all…I-I…” his cheeks went dark red before continuing, “I still can’t admit how I feel about you…not to myself, to anyone, and…” his eyes trailed up to her, and seeing her rosy cheeks and blue eyes staring at him, he swallowed his words and just clammed up, looking back down at the floor. Sasha blinked in shock, her mouth slightly agape. But this shock only lasted a moment, and it was replaced with a rush.

Confidence, Determination, and Excitement!

An ever so slight grin came to Sasha’s lips, her cheeks getting warmer. “Well… at the very least I’m glad you plan on apologizing to Leatherhead! I wouldn’t wanna spend the night looking at stars with you if that was gunna be the case.” Donnie softly nodded, the words “Yeah…” muttered their way out of his mouth as he stared at the floor. Until what Sasha said finally clicked in his brain, and his head snapped back up to look at her. She had a soft smile on her lips, a small red tint peaking its way through the fur on her cheeks. Donnie’s eyes started growing wide as his heart started gaining speed in his chest. “W-wait, w-what? Did you just..” he was about to question, but Sasha just nodded softly in response. “REALLY?!” Donnie said, almost shouting, before noticing how loud he was and flinching, bringing his hands up to his mouth, clamping it shut. He quickly got up and rushed around to his door and peaked back out into the living room. Everyone was still sound asleep, and he sighed in relief.

Donnie closed the door back behind him, and faced back to Sasha. A sheepish grin pulled at the corners of his mouth, “I-I..I’m happy you’re up for it.” Sasha let a small giggle out, crossing her arms in front of herself, “Well, I was always up for something like this, but finding an activity that didn’t necessarily involve being all ‘Sciencey’ and what not was a bit difficult. Especially finding something we’d both like equally.” Donnie nodded in agreement, having had the same thoughts before talking with April about all this. Happy to see he wasn’t alone in that. “But…Stargazing actually sounds really fun! Used to do that all the time back home. And…it’s pretty romantic…” The heat on her cheeks getting stronger as those words came from her lips. Don wasn’t sure if that was a bad reaction or if she liked the idea of that, so he reiterated his earlier statement, “Y-yeah…I know. But again, we don’t…have to call it a date if that makes it too…well…you know.” “Y-Yeah, I know….” There was a very tense pause between them, before Sasha spoke up again. “Well then…Uhhh…” she stuttered out, looking at him, almost like she wasn’t sure what to do next. Her arms now kinda lifted like she wanted to reach out to him, almost like a hug or maybe something else. But she quickly shook her head and brought them back down to her sides, “Y-you have a good night, ok?”

Donnie was about to protest a bit, after seeing that, but decided not to try and press his luck. The girl he’d been crushing on for a while now had just agreed to go out with him. He wasn’t about to try anything stupid now! He softly nodded, “Y-yeah… you too Sasha…”

✨💛💜✨

With that everything was set in motion! Splinter was told about his plans and his blessing was given, though not without the embarrassing implication that he “Expects that they’re not going to do anything that would be irresponsible.” Donnie promised no such thing would get even close to happening. Not that the idea hadn’t crossed his mind before in a few dreams he’d wish would leave him alone. And of course April knew about the plan. The only one’s not in the loop where Casey & his brothers! And if he had anything to say about it, none of them would ever know about it. Though hiding the fact that he’d be gone for about a week was gunna be impossible.

For the next few days, Sasha and Donnie texted back and forth, disguising the details of the trip. Sasha was a little surprised to find out that it wouldn’t just be a single night out alone with him, but it would actually be a six day long trip! One day to make it there, two days hike out to where they would actually be star gazing, Two days back to the farmhouse, and then a one day trip back to the city! This made Sasha just a tad bit more worried about the idea, and it made a pit form in her stomach.

“Oh god…am-am I gunna be able to handle being alone with him for that long...?”

Sasha looked down at her claws, noting the sharp nails again. The memory of the other night where she accepted his offer replaying in her head again for the 30th time that day. She was about to hug him, but she had to stop herself again. Those feelings, Those thoughts, those…urges, they showed no sign of stopping. And it really started to scare her more. Worried about how she would handle it all, she went to Leatherhead for advice. If it was this hard to hold back being all cooped up, she could only imagine how much harder it would be to keep herself under control while not only being out in nature again for the first time in months, but it was also spring time. The Time of Passion for a lot of species, including themselves. Leatherhead assured her she’d be fine, but if she really felt uncomfortable, she could just change her mind about going.

But no, Sasha snorted, “I can’t keep being a coward. And I’ve already gotten this far. I might as well see how this goes. And I trust Donnie, so I need to start trying to trust myself.”

Finally the day came, and with it, butterflies galore for both of them. Donnie was in his room, getting his final preparations ready. All the gear he’d be taking with them laid out over his floor. “Let’s see…Blankets, Pillows, Telescope, Flint, Matches, Water Canteen, Notebooks…” He muttered to himself, before a knock at his door spooked him. “Hey yo, Donnie! You in there bro?” called out Raph’s muffled voice from behind the door. Donnie panicked a bit and quickly started to shove the items into his duffle bag, “Uhhh, j-just a minute Raph! I’m here!” Raph raised a brow at that, “The heck does that mean? The hell are you-“ Raph asked as he opened Donnie’s door anyways to see his brother haphazardly slamming his duffle bag under his desk and him quickly plopping his butt into his deck chair. There was a pause while Donnie tried playing it cool, “Oh hey! Sorry about that Raph, I was just…uhhh…you know…reorganizing my stuff…” trailing off in the last part a bit. Both in a way that made it sound like he was questioning what was coming out of his mouth and instantly regretting it. He had been able to hide the trip from his brothers for the whole week, but this is where shit was gunna hit the fan.

It was pretty obvious that Donnie was lying, he was never good at it! Raph’s eyes flicked down at the duffle bag and then back up at his brother, then they narrowed, “You always stuff your bag full of your crap when you ‘Reorganize’ things?” He asked, really not amused. “I do now.” Donnie stated, quickly rushing past his brother. If he was gunna be getting ready for this trip and getting the snacks packed, he was gunna have to do it now while he still could. But Raph wasn’t letting him go that easy. The whole week leading up to today, he, Leo, and Mikey had been feeling like something was up with him and Sasha! Big time! Mikey said that during the sleepover, he overheard Sasha and Donnie talking in his room, but couldn’t exactly understand what they were saying. And ever since that, the two of them have been a lot weirder around each other. They could be seen starring at one another more often, they’d be whispering to one another, and it seemed like the super awkward air they had between them was nearly gone almost over night! And now, this morning, Donnie hadn’t come out of his room and was now packing a bag with god knows what!

“Like Shell you do! The heck is up with you today?” Raph asked, fallowing close behind his brother who was heading to the kitchen. “I have no clue what you’re talking about…” Donnie said quickly, trying to shake off the praying. But it wasn’t gunna work. Leo stopped his training to walk over to them, “What’s going on?” Leo asked, concerned that the two might have gotten into another fight. “Donnie here is packing a bag in his room!” Raph said, still fallowing Don and not stopping. “What?” Leo asked, genuinely concerned hearing this. “It’s not how it sounds…” Donnie said while digging through the cabinets for a few sandwich bags and filling them with a few small snacks. “It’s exactly how it sounds! Don’t give us that!” Raph barked back. “What the shell are you doing packing up your stuff Donnie?” Leo asked, now getting really worried. “I’m…going on a short trip…” Donnie’s said, figuring he might as well give them that much. “What!? Why? Where? Does Splinter know about this?” “Any particular order you want those answers in?” Donnie snarked back as he quickly gathered up some juice pouches into a cooler along with the snacks, still not making eye contact with his brothers.

“Stop it Donnie, I’m serious! What is going on?” Leo tried to plead, but it fell on deaf ears as Donnie slid a few extra things from the fridge into his cooler and made his way back out of the kitchen, cooler in hand. “Nothing that you two need to concern yourselves with! I’m just gunna be gone for a week! I’ll be fine!” Donnie said, obviously getting annoyed and stressed by the badgering from his brothers, speed-walking his way back to his room. And just as he saw his open bedroom door, he could see Mikey, looking through his Shell Cell. The duffle bag he had on the floor now open.

“MIKEY!” Donnie shouted in anger as he charged into his room, quickly whipping the Shell Cell from his hands and quickly slinging the duffle bag over his shoulders. “Whoa! Easy Donnie, I was just-“ “Snooping through my things when I’ve told you about a thousand times not to…” Donnie quickly retorted, clearly not amused. “Come on dude! You aren’t telling us what you’re up to, and I KNOW you’re up to something!” Mikey said back, sure he could be a little shit stirrer, but he was just as worried about this “trip” as much as his brothers were. Donnie rolled his eyes, letting out and exacerbated huff, “Look I’m gunna be fine! I have my Bo with me, and if I need anything, I have my Shell Cell!” He said, now packed up and ready to leave. He had already texted Sasha to let her know he was ready to leave.

Walking into the living room area, Donnie just stood there, looking through the Shell Cell at his messages. But his brothers weren’t gunna let up. “Can you at least tell us where you’re going?” Leo asked. “Why, so you three can fallow me? I don’t need any praying eyes!” He brothers all just threw up their brows and that, and looked at one another. They had to admit that fallowing him was kinda on the table, but no way they were admitting it. “What does that mean?” Leo asked. “Yeah!?” Raph asked. “You got some super secret vehicles you’re working on or something?” Mikey asked. Donnie turned to look at his brothers, “What? No! Look, I’m not telling you guys what I’m doing or where I’m going! And that’s final!” Donnie snapped. The brothers had to take a step back for a minute, looking a bit concerned now. Donnie sighed, “Look, I’m sorry, ok? I just need to be alone for this! Splinter and April know where I am if something happens to me. But I’m gunna be fine, I just, need to face this on my own.”

Leo narrowed his brows a bit, Donnie made it seem like a very important mission, “Face what on your own?” But before Leo could get any kind of answer to his question, a voice came up from behind Donnie at the entrance to the lair! “Hey Donnie, sorry for taking a while, I had to find all my old camping ge-“ Sasha chirped as she entered the lair, to see Donnie, Leo, Mikey, and Raph all looking up at her. The latter three looking up at her a bit bewildered. Donnie looking back at her over his shoulder, now smiling. There was a short pause before Sasha let out a nervous chuckle, taking in the scene right in front of her. “Oh…Am I interrupting something?” She asked, a crooked smile crossing her face. “Nope! Just finishing up here!” Donnie chirped back, giving her a sweet smile, his brothers now looking at the two of them with wide eyes and slacked jaws.

Sasha, noticed the light signal from Don that she needed to run, and she nodded. “Ah! I see, well…meet you in the Battle Shell then! See you in a week fellas!” She said, giving them another smile and backing up a bit. And before any of them could react, Sasha turned tail and sped off on foot. Another awkward pause wafted through the room, before Don looked back at his brothers, “Welp, you heard her! And it’s not polite to keep a lady waiting!” “WHAT?” His brothers shouted, but Don was already booking it out of the lair, disappearing in to the darkness of the tunnels. “The shell was that?!” Raph asked, genuinely thrown off by how bizarre and quickly that went down. “I-I don’t know…” Leo muttered, honestly too shocked to really understand what just happened. “Huh…well that explains what I found in Donnie’s bag…” Mikey then starts to giggle a little, that impish smile he gets when he’s just played a prank on someone slowly growing on his face. “What? What’s so funny?” Raph looked at his brother with a raised eyebrow. “Oh nothing…sure we’ll find out in a week…” Mikey grinned.

✨💛💜✨

Donnie was nearly out of breath by the time he made it to the warehouse, where Sasha was already sitting besides the Battle Shell, leaning up against it. But once she heard his feet approaching she straighten up and waved. She looked nervous, but was clearly trying to hide it, “How did it go?” She asked. Donnie shook his head as he approached her, “About as good as I figured it would…” he said. Sasha cringed, “Ooof. Sorry to leave you behind like that…” “No need to apologize, probably would’ve gone way worse had you stuck around.” Donnie admitted, opening the back of the Battle Shell, loading up his duffle bag and cooler. “Fair enough!” Sasha said, also placing her duffle bag next to his. “With that said we should probably get outta here pretty quick before they have a chance to fallow?” “Oh you bet! Hop in!” Donnie said, climbing into the Battle Shell first, turning around once inside, holding out his hand to her. Sasha blinked a bit, surprised by the offer. Her eyes looked up to his and he was giving her a soft smile, cheeks the slightest bit dark. “N-need a lift?” Sasha looked back down at his outstretched hand, lips pressed into a thin line, contemplating and nervous. Finally, she tentatively reached out and gently took his hand. Donnie then pulled her up into the Battle Shell, finally sliding the back hatch behind them down.

Sasha had been in the Battle Shell a small number of times before now, and it always impressed her just how much work went into it. It was one of the first projects Leatherhead ever told Sasha about when she first met him, and was telling her about how brilliant Donnie was. When she finally got to meet him and he decided to show her the Battle Shell, she was smitten with it! Such a beautiful machine made from only scraps and junk. It was truly a sight to behold. Since then, she’s been allowed to help in making adjustments to it. Specifically, Donnie wanted her to help with making it go faster, which the cheetah was more than delighted to help with. Speed was part of who she was after all, and her tips on making the Battle Shell more aerodynamic were incredibly effective. Only now further demonstrated by how fast Donnie pulled it out of the warehouse and into the back allies! When they finally made it onto the main streets of the city, Sasha’s eyes seemed to grow to the size of dinner plates!

“Oh my spots…” She said in amazement. Seeing the city at night from the rooftops was one thing, but during the day it was a whole other beast. The sun was so bright, there were so many people it was impossible to make out any one face in the crowd, and all the noise going on was insane. A stray thought made Sasha wince as her ears drooped and she moved her face away from the windows a little. “Uhhh aren’t you worried someone is gunna like…see us?” She asked, honestly not having thought about that until now. “No need to worry! I tinted these windows to the maximum legal limit! They won’t be able to make us out.” Donnie chimed up. Sasha sighed, feeling a lot better now. “Oh good! Thought I was gunna get us caught there of a sec…” She started shifting her gaze back out the window again, partly to keep looking at the world around them, and partly to try and keep from making eye contact with Donnie. She was hoping that the new sights would keep the butterflies that had been doing back flips inside her stomach down, but that wasn’t happening.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Donnie asked, noticing her wondering look. “It’s definitely something! They have cities in South Africa too, but…nothing like this!” Sasha responded, still not looking back at Donnie. Donnie nodded, his eyes now wondered over from the road to Sasha in the passenger's seat. He didn’t say anything about it before and had no plans to bring it up to her at all out of fear of being seen as a creep, but…something seemed…different about her today. Almost…prettier. Not that he ever thought of her as not pretty, far from it actually. But for some reason, her fur seemed smoother, more groomed then she normally looked. Her coat shining in what little sunlight was making its way through the windows. And…if he wasn’t mistaken, she had to be wearing some kind of perfume, or maybe it was her shampoo. It was a fruity smell, like a watermelon maybe. The smell of which was filling the cab.

“Did she really get all dolled up just for this?”

This staring went on for a bit, till he noticed something, her tail was wrapped around in her lap. Her nails lightly playing with the fur at the ends, hands seemingly shivering. Of course, she was nervous. Not that he blamed her, so was he.

A honk from a car behind them made Donnie jolt a little, focusing his attention back onto the road, nearly making him leap out of his shell. Sasha then glanced back at him, “Y-you get everything you needed?” She asked. “Huh? O-oh, yeah! Well, just the essentials. I was packing over the span of the week so my brothers wouldn’t get suspicious. B-But uhhhh…you saw how well that went.” Donnie answered, his hands gripping the steering wheel every once in a while. Sasha nodded, taking notice of his hands, it was pretty clear he was nervous but was doing his best to seem relaxed. And that’s when a faint hint of sunlight made her notice something else. A short but noticeable glimmer came from behind Donnie.

“D-Did he polish his shell? All for...this? For...me?”

The thought made Sasha’s face burn, though she really couldn’t judge. She was the one that called April and had her come over way earlier in the day before she left to help her get ready. And for moral support.

Feeling like she was starting to stare a bit, she quickly looked away and started trying to think of something to say, keeping her eyes anywhere but at him. “I-I'm really glad you asked me to come with you…” She said, sheepishly. Donnie blinked, glancing at her from the corner of his eye, “Oh…Really?” Sasha nodded, “Yeah, I mean, I not only get to spend a bit more time with…well, you. But I also get to see a forest for the first time!” Donnie took a second for those words to set in his mind, the idea of her never seeing a forest before was baffling, but then logic kicked back in and he nodded. “Oh yeah, that’s right!” “This closest I’ve ever gotten to seeing one was a Jungle, but it wasn’t very big. And of course, pictures online and in books don't really count.” Sasha added. “Well, I’m hoping to show you more then just that! We have a two day hike ahead after we get there. Casey, April, and my brothers have had a few…adventures out there. I can even show you where a spaceship crashed!”

Sasha’s eyes grew wide and her head snapped up to look at him, “Are you for real?” Donnie laughed, “I wouldn’t lie to you! Yeah! I can also show you a nuclear power plant that we shut down because it was killing off some mutant fish folk that were living in the river!” Sasha’s mouth curled into a wide grin, “This so cool! I can’t wait to see it!”

With a little bit of the tension lifted, the rest of their drive out of the city was a little more comfortable. And once they started hitting the wilderness, Sasha’s eyes wondered even more. Without much traffic around them now, Sasha felt safe enough to roll down her window a bit to see everything better. The trees were just beginning to sprout fresh leaves, and the grass seemed to already be bringing out colorful flowers and weeds! The sun was high in the sky, giving the daytime a pleasant warmth, something for the plants and newly awoken critters to soak up to prepare for the new season. The scent of clean spring air hit Sasha’s face, her smile turning soft as she took it in. Her fur seemed to shiver a little, as if a new wave of energy was going through her body.

That’s when another feeling creeped into her body, and she froze a little, a rush of embarrassment and worry slowly starting to take over. Her eyes glanced over at Donnie, who seemed more relaxed, but was still focused on the road. A very slight smile on his face. Taking in his features, Sasha felt that weird tingle in her body and she frowned.

“T-this is…gunna get…weird…”

Sasha started looking down at the floor, thankful that the window was down now so that she could get a soft cool breeze on herself as her cheeks began to burn hard. “H-Hey uhhh, D-Donnie?” She started softly, starting to feel her paws shake. Donnie almost didn’t hear her over the sound of the wind, but his eye’s could see her lips move from the corner of his eye and he turned his head slightly, “Huh? What’s up?” He asked, honestly looking a little concerned now. She didn’t look too hot, and her cheeks could be seen turning red through the fur on her cheeks, “You getting sick? Should I pull over?” He asked. Sasha shook her head, “N-no it’s just…I-I’m a bit worried.” She muttered, her hands coming together in her lap, clamping onto one another tightly. Donnie’s brows curved up, taking quick glances at her, still trying to keep an eye on the road. “What about? If it’s the hike and camping-“ He was cut off pretty quickly. “N-No! I-It’s not that…I-It’s…about me…” Donnie cocked a brow and looked at her for a good long second at that. “What do you mean? Thought you said you weren’t sick.” Sasha grimaced a bit, looking back out the window at the beautiful woods just beyond the road, as if she were looking for a way to put it. “I suppose you could…see it as being ‘sick’, in a way…” She said.

Now that REALLY confused the poor terrapin, but she was clearly getting at something, so he prodded as gently as he could, “Okeeeey…care to explain?” Sasha gulped, “Tell me…W-what does spring usually mean?” Donnie felt like he had to pause and reboot his brain for a moment. The vagueness of that question only making his worry and confusion more tangled. But, he trusted she was going somewhere with this, so he tentatively answered, “Uhhhh, well I think Blooming Flowers, Bugs, Warmer weather, and maybe allergies?” Sasha has to hold back a small laugh at his last statement, but it seemed like he didn’t notice. But the laugh was replaced with a loud sigh, as she started coming to the realization that she was gunna have to spell it out for him. Her face getting even hotter. “It also happens to be the season of procreation for many species…”

"..."

The silence is incredibly loud in the Battle Shell, even the wind coming in through the cracked window seemed to be drowning in it. Donnie’s eyes went wide as a slight heat creeped up into his cheeks, waiting for a second for what she said to sink in. He turned his head slightly her way, only to see her still facing out the window, but her eyes staring right at him. Her cheeks were a bright red, ears drooped and her mouth was in an uncomfortable frown. “…that includes yours and mine.” She concluded, her voice almost hitching, but the statement still hit like a semi-truck. That’s when Donnie’s face started turning bright red and he quickly looked away just to try and save himself from every thought racing into his head at once. But, it was too late! He really wasn’t sure what to say to that!

“I-I uhhh, w-well, I mean…you’re right. But-but that d-dosen’t mean anything. W-we’re not like…well normal animals! We have more control!” He said, just trying to get something said out loud. Though it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself and her, but it didn’t, as a hoard of butterflies started churning in his stomach again. Nights worth of dreams finally flooding his brain with any and all scenarios his teenaged mind could conjure. Sasha just whimpers a bit, shifting in her seat so that she’s scooted a bit further from her turtle friend, but still facing him. Her eyes started drifting down to the floor, “Y-Yeah, I know. B-but it’s less you I’m worried about, and…m-more me…” Donnie glanced at her, and she continued, “Being a cheetah, we a-aren’t that tough, but we’re still big cats. And cats are…p-pretty…aggressive during this kind of season…” a tinge of worry coming across Donnie’s face a little hearing this. “And it get’s more intense when w-we’re…in our element. So to speak…”

“Y-your not gunna…like…hurt me, or anything like that are you?” Donnie asked, honestly a little confused by her words. The way she was talking it was like she was scared she might try to eat him. Sasha’s eyes flew up and she looked really scared, “My Spots! N-no! Never in my life! It’s just…remember that night how I-I…” she trailed off, looking down. She slowly opened her paw to look at it. He knew what she was getting at almost immediately, bringing his own hand up to his cheek, it getting warm again. “Y-yeah…I remember…” “When I’m…in my element, I tend to be a…bit more bold. And I start to show a bit more of myself…” she continued, “You’ve likely noticed before…” Donnie thought about it, and she did seem to be a bit more open when they’d be out on missions, or in the heat of battle, or even just when she’s in the zone while in the lab. Calm, tactical, and cheery most of the time, but Donnie started seeing glimpses of something else during these other occasions. A Sly playfulness here or a small trace of bashfulness there, little peeks into Sasha’s true personality.

Donnie let his mind wander a bit, before Sasha sighed, “I’m sorry for having to bring it up NOW, but… I didn’t wanna seem like I didn’t wanna…go out with you like this…” she said, her eyes glancing back out the window, leaning against the door with one arm up against it, the other on her lap and cradling her stomach. “N-no! It’s ok! I-I’m happy you’re being honest with me! That’s the whole point of this trip after all! To get to know each other more!” Donnie said, reassuring her. A slow nervous smile passed over Sasha’s lips, “…just promise me that… if I get too…” her cheeks turned bright red and her ears lowered “…Frisky…, you’ll stop me if I cross a line. And p-please don’t…take it too personally…”

The word ‘frisky’ coming from Sasha of all folks made Donnie nearly laugh, but he held it in immediately. “Of course! I promise, nothing you could do would cross a line for me! But, uhhhh, I suppose the same should be said for me…” Sasha looked at him, an eyebrow raised. Donnie nervously chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck some, “I’m assuming you know how turtles get w-when…uhhh…” he trailed off, cheeks burning immediately. Sasha smirked a little, nodding.

Of course, Sasha was always more into the Biology branches of science, it was something he admired about her. He swallowed, “R-right, so…stop me if I cross a line too.” Sasha nodded again, “Deal… though…” a light devious glint hit her eyes “I don’t think I’ll need to worry about you. I know more about your body than you do about mine…” Donnie eyes grew at the sound of that, and his looked over her way. She was blushing still, a slight smirk on her face, but she was leaning against the window again. Staring off at the passing trees. The butterflies in his stomach were going insane now, his face practically wanting to melt off.

"W-what the shell?"

Quickly looking back at the road so they wouldn’t crash, Donnie kept driving. Sasha felt pleased with that, but the pit in her stomach still hadn’t let up. She had been honest with him. Right?

✨💛💜✨

After about another hour or so, they finally pulled up the long dirt road leading up to the large Farmhouse. Sasha let out a long whistle, looking at the size of the property and seeing the woods just beyond it. “Talk about some fresh air! This place is so…beautiful!” She said, taking off her seat belt, still keeping her eyes trained on the tree line. Donnie huffed out a small laugh, “I know right! Plenty of wide open space for us to just stretch our legs a-“ The sound of Sasha’s door opening and her hopping out made him stop. The speedy pattering of her feet on the grass was so quick that Donnie hardly started unbuckling his seatbelt yet. By the time he finally climbed out, he turned his attention to the back of the Battle Shell, and Sasha had already made it halfway across the property. She was looking all over the place, slowly turning, her tail softly flicking behind her. She was wonderstruck!

A soft smile spread on Donnie’s lips as he watched her. “I guess she really HAD been needing some time out in nature.” Sasha only stopped moving when her eyes landed on the sight of the distant hills, a huge smile spreading on her face. A present spring breeze blew through the trees and grass, and as it made its way into her fur, Sasha closed her eyes and took in a huge breath of it. The tips of her ears and tail now softly twitching. She then let out with a sigh, the wind suddenly changing direction and strength along with it, almost in sync. That’s when her ears flicked to something behind her, and she quickly turned to see Donnie approaching her, carrying both his and her own bags. “Huh, that wind gust was pretty strong!” He chuckled, getting closer and holding her bag out to her.

Sasha seemed to flinch at him taking notice of that and her ears drooped a bit, but she quickly shook that off and took her bag from him. “O-oh yeah, you know! These Spring winds they…uhhhh…always seem to…you know…move with the hearts of those who let it in.” Donnie raised a brow at that, “I’ve never heard that one before…” he said, a small smile on his face. While it was strange, Sasha always seemed to know a few weird sayings, most of which were kinda funny but mostly endearing. Maybe even a little spiritual at times. “Y-yeah, it’s something my Grandmother used to say…” She said, seeing to be in a hurry to stop talking about it, quickly slinging her bag onto her shoulders. “Well, I hope you’re ready to move like the wind, cause we’ve got a LOT of ground to cover before we make it to were we gotta be.” Donnie piped up, tilting his head in the direction of the woods just ahead of them.

She looked at him of a second, her ears perking back up again, the cat-like smirk returning to her lips, “Born ready my terrapin friend! Lead the way!” Donnie walked ahead a bit, “Well, We’ll have to move a bit stealthily from here for about a mile through these woods! Casey has a neighbor here who once sent his pitbull after Mikey.” “Oh! Crazy Man Hatchet?” Donnie froze for a second, looking back at her surprised that she knew. “How did-“ Sasha shrugged, “Mikey told me the story! You three saved a furry green man thing and it’s baby.” “Right…well, I’m hoping we won’t be seen like he was. But, like I said, we only got to get past a mile and then we should be in the clear.” Sasha nodded, “You got it…” she started walking ahead of him, only stopping to get right next to him, giving him a playful bump on his shoulder “Ninja Boy…” The way her voice came out was so sultry and almost teasing. Donnie froze a bit, feeling her soft tail brush his arm as she passed him. The tingle from such an action traveled through his whole body, making him shutter as his face began to burn. “Oh shell…is THIS what she meant by ‘being bold’?” He thought to himself, staring at Sasha, slack-jawed as she walked ahead of him. Noticing the way her tail swooshed, moving in time with her steps and the sway of her hips. He gulped, “If so, I just hope I can handle all of…that!”

The cheetah looked back at him, over her shoulder, “Race you to the other side?” She shouted back, a sly smirk on her. The return of that competitive spirit in her, and the quickening of her steps made Donnie flinch, before springing to life himself. He smirked and ran to catch up, “Sure, but aren’t I supposed to lead the way!?” He yelled back, with a laugh in his voice.

(To Be Continued...)

[yellowhollyhock]

Since you seem to be an analysis expert on the 03 show. I saw someone say during the city at war arc that Raph wanted to let people die. Thoughts on this?

Kfkdjakdjdj I do enjoy analyzing, thank you for this ask

Short answer: Raph isn’t callous about people’s suffering. He would intervene if he saw someone getting hurt, he just didn’t want to go out looking for trouble. If you get rid of a bad politician does that make you thereafter morally accountable for all bad politicians whom he technically would’ve out-politicianed? Nah bro.

Long answer under the cut

The City at War arc is so interesting to me. I’m gonna try to take a fair look at it from each brother’s pov, with a main focus on Raph and Leo. Disclaimer: Raph’s position makes more sense to me and I am also writing this in his defense since the show kinda took Leo’s side.

The turtles defeated the Shredder and the city was plunged into chaos. Power vacuum yada yada, you’ve seen the episode (or if you haven’t you probably shouldn’t read this analysis). Leo’s basic position: We made a mess therefore we must fix it. Raph’s position: we did a good thing, evil still exists, we can’t be responsible for all of it.

This is really not a simple dilemma.

Leo is seeing things with a utilitarian lens; he’s judging their past actions based on the overall effect on the majority, not whether they acted with moral intentions or according to moral principles. This same approach would justify killing the Shredder, especially since they didn’t know it would cause a power vacuum. But now that their actions have led to a situation where a large number of people are (still) getting hurt, so the best possible ethical solution in Leo’s mind is to go out and finish what they started.

One thing we learn about Leo is that if he sees someone suffering, he isn’t going to ignore it. In that way we see the hero that he’s started to develop into. We also see, however, exactly how he handles guilt. And honestly, it’s not pretty. We all talk about Leo going out to look for fights later in the show after the Utroms imprison Ch’rell. Isn’t that what he’s doing here? It’s not as extreme, and it doesn’t stick out as much because he’s not as broody, but isn’t he trying to get rid of that guilty feeling by finding the end of the ‘task’ he’s set for himself? Doesn’t he feel like he failed and seems willing to do anything to make up for it? I mean, it’s not real clear what his plan is. He wants to make a difference; okay? Wasn’t he making a difference when he got rid of Shredder? Does he think is he keeps taking out the Next Worse Guy that the world will eventually run out of evil?

Of course he doesn’t cognitively think that. But he acts on it, showing perhaps somewhere inside he hopes it. And I’m a way this again shines a very positive light on him. He believes that the world can be good! And he’s ready to put in his own sweat and blood to make it that way! Maybe violence is not the way to do that, though? As they’re out doing it he does demonstrate caution and restraint. But you know. What was their other option?

The option Raph wanted was to keep going like they had been. Stick to the shadows, watch each other’s backs, and intervene with human issues if and when they’re able, rather than go out looking for problems to solve. What if everyone made that decision? To do everything we can to take good care of those close to us, and intervene when we see someone in need? It’s not a perfect philosophy either, but it’s not a solid start. It also shows a lot of growth on Raph’s part. In the past he’s handled his anger pretty much how Leo is handling his guilt: go out and see if he can find the right guy to punch to make the world make sense again. Led to some heroic moments, but maaaybe not the best philosophy to live by? I think that’s largely why he’s so against it. He sees Leo exhibiting the behaviors and traits he’s embarrassed by in himself. What he doesn’t see is how Leo is seeking connection with the world more than he ever used to, or the beautiful hope he holds. Basically, they learned from each other and they’re both thrown off by it.

We know that Mikey sees things Leo’s way. Makes sense for him because he’s already a superhero. He’s always had this idea of his family being Protectors; it’s a much more comfortable way to be separate than as Monsters. So when Leo says “here’s the mess and here’s why it’s our responsibility,” Mikey doesn’t pause to wonder where exactly Leo plans on stopping. He believes in his brother’s goodness and, like Leo, the world’s potential to run out of bad guys (again, I’m not saying they literally think that, but they hope for it, which can be both a huge source of strength and. Well. Naive). I think he’s a little more willing to see both sides—his family is central to his thinking and when Raph and Don don’t follow Leo Mikey doesn’t go after him himself. But he does want to help and tries to explain the situation to Donny.

As for Donny—I’m sure he understood the situation the first time when he heard it from Leo. During this arc we see him mostly stepping back and waiting to see what the family decides. However, may I point out, based on the way Don’s acted in the past when he sees people in trouble, especially if he feels responsible, I think we’d know if he thought what Leo was saying made any sense. His initial passivity towards the whole situation is, in a way, as loud and clear as Raph’s protests.

While Leo takes a utilitarian approach, Donny is looking at this as a Pacifist (he identifies himself as a Pacifist, I think he also explains in an intro or two that he’d rather find solutions besides fighting, also I’m basing this somewhat on Mirage Don because, 2003 is somewhat based on Mirage). His guiding principle is that you should never commit violence unless you’ve exhausted other options. Which, you know. It happens to them kind of a lot that they’ve exhausted other options. So I don’t imagine he’s real thrilled that in a rare moment of peace, Leo wants to go out and Find a fight.

But after Mikey talks to him we know that all three of them end up going after Leo, and ultimately all decide to fight alongside him.

This is one of my favorite Mikey and Donny moments tbh. With Leo off on his own and Raph siding with Splinter, Donny kinda has all the power in the familial politics in that moment. If he asked Mikey not to go after Leo, he wouldn’t. If he asked Raph to go—well, he did. I think Don mainly made that decision because he’s worried about what would happen to Leo if he’s alone. I think Mikey also played a big role though. Because even if he doesn’t agree with them ethically (and there really isn’t a simple answer they’re all right and they’re all wrong), he can see that it’s important to his brothers. If Donny has chosen to insist on staying, Mikey would have felt he had to because that’s the closest option he can have to his family being whole (hopefully Leo would come around), and thus he would be prevented from doing what he really believes in. If there’s anyone Donny would never put in that position no matter how much he disagrees with them, it’s Mikey.

And if there’s anything that could get through to Raph while he’s so frazzled over Leo fighting with him and determined to do what he believes is right (and he’s not wrong!), it’s a gentle suggestion from Donny (who he knows is on his side in this one) that even if they don’t get it, they should help if it’s really that important to Leo and Mikey.

But you know who is actually the only one who is able to change Raph’s mind? Like for real, not temporary placating him and inevitably leading towards another blow up (from him and Leo, Raph is not the only one losing his temper here)?

Master Splinter. Splinter, who has been very vocally on Raph’s side and against Leo on this issue. And whose teachings and rules so often clash uncomfortably with Raph’s personal values. Both of them are very aware that there is no end of Next Worse Guys, and that they have to prioritize their family’s safety because no one else in the world will. I honestly think that just as much as Splinter is the only one who could reach Raph, Raph is the only one who could change Splinter’s mind on this. I so wish we’d seen that conversation on screen. It would’ve been a great chance for Splinter to acknowledge some of his blind spots as a parent (so much of passing down fear), and for us to see Raph open and willing to accept his wisdom. Also Splinter helping Raph with his emotions. Literally the opportunity was right there. (Someday I’ll write it)

Anyway I’m sure Raph and Splinter talked about how they couldn’t stand idly. They agreed it wasn’t their fight to begin with, but Leo’s going anyway and you know what? Who really cares whose fault it was? If we can do some good let’s go out and do some good

(Again I don’t personally think going out to hit some more guys ultimately does that much good in the world and if I were the judge I’d be in the same page as Raph and Donny, about achieving peace by living peacefully and taking care of your people rather than by getting rid of the Problematic Guys, of whom the world will literally never run out, but that’s kind of what makes TMNT so compelling to me because they are trying so hard to live peacefully and keep getting pulled into these situations and fighting is the skill they have so of course it’s what they use and it’s really beautiful that they take such a an awful hand and try so hard to play as fairly as they can—)

I have to stop here or who knows where this could go

[divinekangaroo]

In a previous ask you talked about how sex for Tommy can be transactional. I wondered why you thought that's the case for him?

Mostly because the vast majority of his approaches to people and relationships appear transactional?

Specifically looking at S1-S2 which establishes the pattern:

He has Lizzie for the most overt transactional sex, and May also as transactional sex right from his initial offering ‘do you want to have sex with me Mrs Carlton? because I represent something to you?’ - May is very clear on this with her rebuttal to Grace that there’s no separation between Business and Love in Tommy, and is also very clear she got her fair dealing of life/sex with her racketeer lover in exchange for her influence on the racing board in favour of Tommy’s bookies.

Then there’s his comments to Grace - ‘we’re all whores, just sell different parts of ourselves’ and how initially, once she’s caught his eye, he asks her outright if she’s a whore - would’ve been interested to see what happened next if she said yes…

Non-sexually, he pays reparations in exchange for emotional damage all the time - buys Arthur the pub in part to soften the blow of cutting him out of the bigger gun issue; pays the mothers of boys who die for him; constantly tries to buy Freddie off to the point Freddie accuses him of having no idea what love is. Also trying to give Lizzie more money to seduce the field Marshall (when he probably could’ve sat her down a day before and just ‘recruited’ her into his plan with much less emotional damage…)

Then there’s his general financial negotiations which trade people (not just limited aspects of their time/services):

- trades John in marriage in exchange for soldiers

- negotiates Michael’s future and salary with Polly

- swaps his personal (and at times his family’s) safety in exchange for financial opportunity (export licences)

-trades Grace to Kimber (even if he backtracks that because he wants her more)

And finally his approach to money generally: he is so insistent he pays people ‘a fair price’ even if he’s in this constant position of power such that they can’t ever really get a fair price out of him. Eg, he pays Harry for drinks, even if Harry declines; he pays Zhang for his suits and information; he buys Harry’s pub ‘at a fair price’ even though Harry didn’t want to sell and had no alternative but to sell.

It’s this recurrent thing like he needs to use money and transactions to make himself feel better/balance his emotional ledger. Fuck someone over and feel bad about it? Just pay them, they’ll have a price point after which we can both feel satisfied.

[dearweirdme]

i was checking ur taennope tag and someone made an interesting argument. if Tae was caught on a dating rumor with someone the fandom likes or has a better image. The fandom wouldn’t have cared. And that’s true, which is why it had to be jnnie. It’s controversial.

I was active on twt during the whole taennope situation. And let me tell you, it was wild. 80% of army twt was so confused and in denial. When the pics came out, everyone went to twt circles and refused to even acknowledge the situation or deflect completely. The only ones having a field day were blinks and Kpop stans. And when the Paris scroll came up, army twt was hysterical. Everyone was so confused and didn’t how to proceed because everyone could tell it was a deliberate pap walk so everyone’s immediate reaction was “is this a soft launch?!” yeah there were its fair share of theories that it wasn’t them but there were a lot of big accs that knew it was them. Some of us weren’t in denial. But everyone approached that situation by talking in code or under twt circles. The fandom has had the bad experience of media outlets taking our tweets to make articles. And most of us didn’t want to make public tweets.

And since it was obvious how planned that pap walk was everyone was terrified of Tae even showing up to cannes. The major sign of relief when there wasn’t anything after that pap walk. ARMYs in mass HATED the whole thing. And that made so many more people talk about it out of pure pettiness. BLINKS were the most excited about the whole thing even when now they want to lie and switch the script. The majority of BLINKs love a BTS validation and take every crumb as the solid proof their groups are besties. They desperately wanted Tae to publicity “claim her” like their fave was doing and when jnnie posted the pics on Instagram, they were calling him coward for not actively participating in “confirming the relationship” like she was. That she was “the pants of the relationship” and so many more insane bs.

So yes, I feel like if the rumors were done with someone that had a better reputation and ARMYs liked, I feel like the fandom reactions would’ve have been so volatile. And the fandom would have forgotten about it. Example, if it was someone from TWICE for example or even an actress, I think the fandom would’ve been okay. The ARMYs/BLINks rivalry is intense.

SO- It was important that the rumor had to be Jnnie. She’s someone with somehow a divided reputation and had an upcoming “global” rise coming (but the show ended up a disaster). It’s closest thing to Tae’s status in terms of popularity and the animosity between ARMY and BLINKs is enough to be juicy for YG/BH. Let’s look at the ruckus the Ig follow created. It couldn’t have been an unknown or clean idol. It needed to be someone high in the spotlight with the need or desire for some drama.

And I am someone that believes Tae’s active participation w the whole thing came and went w the Paris walk. After that he tried his best to distance himself for the rumors but it seemed only jnnies team was pushing her to continue. It is not a coincide she posted “the” pictures when yg’s stocks were plumbing over the lisa leaving the company rumor. so they were saving that for some emergency situation.

Now that the 4 of them successfully renewed and tae is enlisted. there’s not point in the rumor anymore. jnnnie can date around and get caught without being accused of cheating. and by the time tae comes back no one will remember this.

Hi anon!

Well, I think any person would have caused a fuss in fandom.. but probably less than what it was now.

I think the idea for this came from Jennie’s camp. She needed something to get attention for her series. Inspired by the Gurumi leaks and the insta follow Yg and BH conviction this and gave Tae a nice cover as a side effect. I do also feel that the Paris walk was the only thing Tae actually did and he started to distance himself shortly after.

[miketownsends]

might be a bit of a stupid question sorry but could you describe what difference managers make in the short term? I know they can make a huge difference shaping the approach of the team (with the most extreme example being something like whiteyball) but on a smaller scale how much can actually change? is it just encouraging things like stolen bases and strategy calls like bunting or is it more?

(I'm still quite new to this baseball thing and I read/listen to so much about it but there's some things that can't be/aren't really explained. love your mariners update posts btw)

not a stupid question at all! honestly i am pretty new to being deep into baseball too and so a lot of what i say is a mixture of stuff i have picked up through osmosis and also just kind of talking out my ass lmao.

imo it’s SO hard to quantify how much a manager actually impacts the team, especially on a smaller scale, in large part because there is a whole advanced analytics team behind the manager and a lot of decisions (like when/who to pinch hit or which reliever to bring in or etc) are then based primarily on the analytics, for better or worse. but obviously if every decision were just a matter of numbers then there would be no need for a manager at all! you could just have some iPad spitting out decisions and run the team that way and take out the human element entirely (and you KNOW that if teams could get away with paying one less person they would lmao).

so clearly there’s a benefit to having a real actual person making the in-game calls. and yeah, i think a lot of the smaller-scale impact comes down to those in-game decisions.

going back to the Mariners, and specifically what i feel like i’ve noticed in the four games they’ve played since Dan took over, it seems like Dan has been making decisions that i don’t know if Scott would’ve made. the biggest thing to me is that it feels (via just my eye test, i have zero numbers to back this up) that he’s having them be more aggressive on the basepaths. which, as i mentioned, makes sense for a team struggling with getting hits! if hits are at a premium then you’ve GOTTA put yourself in a position to take advantage of them when they come up, instead of just hanging out on first hoping someone will hit a bomb or something. (getting off of first also significantly reduces the chances of a double play, which is ALSO something we struggle with!)

the other thing, and this is even more of just a thing that i feel but have ZERO evidence for, is that it seems like he is maybe not going QUITE as hard on the analytics-based decisions as Scott, or at least is using the analytics in a different way. the biggest example of this i can think of is on Sunday, when the Giants pulled in a lefty reliever to face Josh and rather than pinch-hitting for Josh they left him in and he wound up singling in the run that won us the game in the end.

now, to be fair, our bench was VERY thin that day. Luke was sick, Robles was hurt. that leaves you with Dom (also a lefty) and Garver. Garver is obviously struggling this year, but he has hit much better against lefties this year than Josh has (.220 vs. Josh’s .138). BUT Josh had already been on base twice that game. so do you follow the analytics, which say Garver is the better matchup? or do you say “hey this guy’s having a good game let’s leave him in and see what happens?” and the thing is, i don’t think there’s a “right” answer there, necessarily. analytics exist for a reason! but so do managers. we’ll never know what call Scott would’ve made, but i feel like it’s not unlikely he plays it “safe” and pinch-hits Garver in that spot.

and maybe that’s kind of what it ultimately boils down to from game to game - playing aggressively vs. playing it safe, and knowing what the situation calls for. Scott was around for a long time and managed more winning teams than losing ones. maybe he was set in his ways and felt like he knew what *should* work in-game and was unwilling/unable to deviate in a way that would make an impact in individual games. baseball is so weird because there’s SO many games, and so every game feels like it simultaneously does not matter in the grand scheme of things and also is the game that will ultimately push you into the postseason. (the Mariners were a single game short of making the postseason in 2023 and two games short in 2021!) so you’ve gotta have your long-term, big-picture plan set up, but imo you also HAVE to be able to throw it out the window and try something else when the situation calls for it. ESPECIALLY when you go from leading the division by 10 games to being 5.5 games back. and maybe that’s a wall that Scott had hit. maybe managers need term limits! idk.

does any of that make sense? i feel like i just rambled and didn’t directly answer your question 🙃

[bragiedfili]

Oh goodness I’m finally where I can respond back to this and there’s so many good responses! I love hearing everyone’s thoughts on the show, the characters, what would happen after.

When I went into rewatching this again I told myself that I needed to pay attended (well more attention lol) this time around and gosh did it make a huge difference! Even seeing growth from the characters, even the ones I didn’t care so much for (well maybe not all of them) but to be be able to be like wait ok this now makes sense and see that in season 3 from the beginning seeing Martin everywhere in the background

Anders, everyone has their own faults, no one’s perfect, but I don’t see him as this bad person Mike’s trying to make him out to be. I can somewhat relate with Anders with his family not taking him serious, doesn’t like his approach to helping them, his attitude towards them because of that result (been there) so I’m like yeah I get his attitude and his dismissive remarks and having a wall up towards others. It’s so hard to be like oh well look at some of the things he’s done, he’s not a good person and whatnot but I’m like nah I still like him, there’s no way I’d not like him!

Ty I feel bad for, he’s just really caring, a soft lovable guy that wants to love and be loved. I’m just so happy that through everything that got thrown their way him and Dawn ended up together. You could tell that he really cared in season 3 and that the two of them wanted to make sure after everything that they still could come back to each other. Yeah I felt bad about the whole hel/hod situation but I liked the points made where it was what’s inside them that was making them act the way they did, as well as with Anders (Helen was a really piece of work, didn’t particularly like her with Anders, I felt so bad for him) but I’m glad Ty was able to get away from that situation, even though it resulted in hel’s death.

Mike, I don’t know, he just reminds me of certain people in my family and others I’ve met in my life and I don’t care too much for them. So to see how he acted and his overall portrayal of character, it was just too much. It’s hard to separate him from others I know. So that’s why I’m like yeah I don’t really want to see the good side to you. But fair points were made about him in these responses.

You did bring up a good point with Susie and the other gods/goddesses, how did they go about life after? Everyone forgot them, like how would you move forward from that? I’d like to think that Axl found her and explained everything to her and their friendship devolved. And how did Derek take everything? How did any of them!? So many questions! It would’ve been interesting to see if Anders and Michele got into a relationship. With how it played out in season 3 I don’t really see that happening. But I like your point you made that maybe the gods/goddesses have functional relationships after the Ga. It only seems natural that you’d stick with someone that gets that internal battle with the god/goddess inside you for so long and then to have that taken away and having to life without it. It only makes sense to have someone that completely understands that side of you.

I need to find these deleted scenes and watch them to see what I’m missing! I could talk on and on about this show, I love it! I also made sure to pay closer attention to all the locations they went to, so far a majority of the places they go to I have planned to visit on my New Zealand trip. (Haha I found the flat they used to film Anders house and I just want to drive by and see it, not do anything weird or crazy)

I just finished my first rewatch of taj. This time around, I noticed more than the first time I watched. I was actually paying more attention to the storyline instead of just watching Dean in every scene and how good he looked lol.

I felt bad for Anders and how everyone treated him, even up until the last episode. Yeah there were times when he acted like a prick but hey that’s his character and I understand him putting up a wall and acting the way he does because if how others treat him. Still loved Ty. Yeah at times it was a little creepy with his approach to Dawn but I love the ending how it all turned out for them. Still cried. Mike, still can’t stand him. I think this time around I found him even more annoying. I almost got to the point where I had to wither mute when he was talking or just outright skip it lol. Axl was better this time around. First time I found him really annoying but this time he was better. Love Zeb, hilarious! Love all the goddesses still, except Gaia. Don’t even get me started on her! Especially the storyline with her and Anders. Nope hated that part, couldn’t watch it this time.

I loved it even more this time around! Since finishing it, it got me thinking about it they did go ahead with a season 4 and what would play out. I would’ve loved to see how each of them adapted to their life now without their god powers and who would embrace the new change, who would struggle the most, would they change anything about their life or try and keep it steady? Who knows!? And then what about Axl moving back in with Zeb, do you think he’d eventually start telling him everything or just leave that all in the past and build a new friendship? What are your thoughts on if they did another season and what they would tackle?

Yay, talking about TAJ is one of my favourite things!!

I fully agree re: Anders. I often feel sad for him when people who watch the show accept his brothers' opinions of him as fact, despite Anders himself repeatedly trying to tell them that he does the right thing often, that he's trying to protect them, etc. -- and the audience even being shown that effort on his part multiple times. It grinds my gears that other characters thinking Anders is a shallow jerk is taken as a statement of fact from the writers and not, y'know, the character's opinion.

Anders may not have the same set of ethics as Mike, but he clearly has his own set of ethics (which he brings up in S2 when he's uncomfortable with Helen's ideas for his powers, in S3 with Colin's ideas for his powers, etc...) and doesn't see his own actions the way his brothers interpret them, and I think it's a very uncharitable reading of his character to think of him as flat and selfish, instead of the very complex character that was actually written into the show, with flaws and good points and complicated family dynamics where mostly there's a lot of misunderstanding of each other going on. I could probably ramble on about that forever, but I'll refrain.

Mainly I wish that viewers would take Anders word for it what his own motivations are, because he does outright state them at multiple points, right from the first season where he explains that the thing that got him BANISHED FROM HIS FAMILY was done in an attempt to protect Mike.

I really disliked Mike my first viewing, because I felt like he caused a lot of strife for other characters by being inflexible and believing he knew best. As I've rewatched, I've come to better appreciate his character and the immense burden he bears. I think his attempt at controlling his family is his own way of trying to protect them, and that this was caused by the events surrounding both the toxic relationship of his parents and that he was forced to be the head of the family at age 21. (I still get annoyed with him during the S3 Odin contest stuff but I also headcanon that it was a "fate" thing to force Odin and Frigg together.) I try to remind myself that every character on the show thinks they are in the right, and why that might be.

I have a theory about Gaia, but that's a whole other essay lmao.

My answers to your questions re: S4 will be somewhat colored by the deleted scene from the final episode, which reveals what Colin was doing tossing a red gem on the ground before the Ga.

In the deleted scene (which they filmed in case they got renewed for S4), Loki comes out of the gem, and we were left with Loki and Colin standing in the woods, apparently about to cause some problems.

With that in mind, I have to assume that the Johnsons would discover Loki was in Midgard and try to do soemthing about it. I further assume that at least some of the other characters would have god spirits inhabit them again (mainly because that's more interesting than them coming back to Earth on their own and interacting with mortal Johnsons).

I think it would be REALLY interesting if they didn't necessarily get the gods they had the first time around. Maybe Odin doesn't want to leave Asgard, so Axl becomes another god. Maybe Freki, just for the lols. Maybe they find some new McGuffin that allows other mortals (liek Zeb and Dawn) to take on god spirits!

Re: Zeb and Axl living together, given how long their friendship was, I headcanon that - much like Dawn - Zeb would eventually start to remember Axl, and maybe everything. Alternatively, maybe part of the season is Axl finding a way to make Zeb remember!

Just re: the Johnsons being mortal in general, I have a bit of a hc where, since Mike's career wasn't based on his powers, he'd go back to construction (maybe rebuild the bar to sell it), and Axl would work for him. Anders (who I assume does know how to do his job, despite no longer being able to just Bragi his clients) might even do promo for the construction business. Ty could still be a courier, and as the only one to actually live as a mortal since turning 21, I think he'd have the easiest time of it, especially with Dawn remembering him and all.

I think initially there would be a lot of razzing Mike by challenging him to games and beating him, but overall I think Mike might actually feel really happy to get to be included in those games again after so long. I think losing Ullr would really help Mike chill out. Or, at least, I hope that for him.

I don't really see Michele and Anders working out long term unless Michele started to take Anders seriously. She didn't really seem to understand him very well even in S3. I did feel like Anders seemed to want a more serious relationship (not necessarily that he wanted what Ty or Mike would want, but just that he seemed to be looking for emotional connection in S3, and not only physical, perhaps because of the whole Idun plot?) so I could see with not having Bragi anymore that he might settle down a bit and get a gf. I've always sort of thought maybe mortal women didn't seem like suitable gf material to him because they couldn't know about everything going on (like he saw how being with Val was complicated for Mike) and that's why they're always little flings. We do see him treat Michele and Helen pretty well imo (not cheating on them, taking them seriously as people, etc.), so I thought maybe he would do better with a goddess gf. (See Lofn fic lmao)

Ahhh that was a lot of rambling, but I'm always happy to talk more about TAJ!! Thanks for the ask :)

[urmumsbiglefttoe]

I think I have to give up on dating. Or love. Whatever you’d want to call it. I can’t handle rejection anymore. And I don’t think I’m built for it. Perhaps it cliche to say, but I really feel like I’m all alone in that. I’m not the kind of person who can pretend to be uninterested to interest someone. I can only make it clear that I’m into someone. That I want to get to know them better and try to understand who they are. I hate playing the game and trying to leverage some sort of weird, unspoken power dynamic. I literally just want someone to hold me. And apparently there is absolutely nothing attractive about me. That’s not even going into my own insecurities, like my nose or weight. That’s just based on the fact that I just can’t seem to get a date. I can’t think of how many times I’ve given someone my number or contact info out only to never hear from them again. I can’t approach people. I don’t know how and I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. Someone will have to come to me and find me attractive. And at the rate I’m going? It’s never gonna happen. To be fair, it did happen once. She fell in love with me, for whatever she saw. Maybe not love. Towards the end she did say that she didn’t know what love was and so couldn’t say that she loved me anymore. So there’s that. And tbh, I’m still a little hung up on what happened. That was supposed to be endgame. We always talked about getting married and building a life together. There’s a lot I could say about them or our time together. I was often frustrated and also wasn’t at my best often either. But I literally carried her dying body to the hospital. There were many times where I thought I was with her in her final moments. I was in it for life. In fact, even though we don’t have any kind of relationship anymore and I can’t even stand to see them ever again I can say with certainty that our time together changed my mind about becoming a parent. It’s def for the best we did not have a kid together. That would’ve been a shit show. But through my love and care for this person it became clear to me why people would want to bring life into this world. And that’s just a part of me now. Should the right person come along, I’d love to raise a child/family with them. It’s hard to reconcile all of that with the present. We don’t even talk to each other anymore. Idk if I miss her or I’d get back together or whatever. I just can’t believe that even for a moment someone believed they loved me and that now it’s gone. I can’t help but feel so ugly and valueless. I’ve talked to so many different people. Of different cultures and perspectives and sexuality and gender and economic means. And not one of them has thought, “hmm, I’ll give Alexander a chance.” I’ve been intersectionally and diversely rejected! I’m perhaps looking in the wrong places, although I seriously doubt it. I can understand that my chances with strangers won’t be that great bc of probability and other factors. I get it, strange man approaches you expressing interest is a fight-or-flight situation for many. I’m supposed to have better luck by being in circles that correspond with my interests. But honestly, I cannot imagine myself asking my peers out. I can’t count how many times I’ve yearned or fawned over a friend or mutual. There are some that I still talk to to this day that I’d love to ask out! Even for just one silly, little date! But I can’t even get my friends to hang out with me platonically, let alone go on a date. I can’t bring myself to ask them out. I can barely handle rejection from someone that I think is pretty and know nothing else about. I don’t know what I would do if a kind person or someone with the same hobbies as me rejected me. I’d lose my marbles.

The world doesn’t owe me anything. It’s not some oppressive convention that I can’t find a partner. I just yearn and long so hard to have someone in my life. To be held in someone’s arms. To have someone stare longingly into my eyes. To see someone’s face and feel comfort and safety and peace. I yearn for days of going to sleep with someone and sitting next to them for the sake of being next to them. I miss playing chase with someone. I miss grabbing someone’s arm. I want someone to kiss me. Someone who wants me near them and who misses me. I want someone who sees who I am and isn’t afraid or disgusted, but rather rejoiceful and loving. I am unabashedly lonely and I can’t fucking take it. I’ve heard sooooo many countless times that it’ll come when I least expect it. But I am not the kind of person that just waits for things. Anything in life I’ve ever wanted, I either make an effort for or fail at. I have an intense desire to connect with someone intimately. I’m tired of pretending I don’t. I want to be with someone soooooooo bad. I’m in part hoping that posting this will somehow turn the universe in my favor. That after years of loneliness through a desire to be in love, I will now be in love through a desire for loneliness. I have prayed to my Lord about this. That He brings me to the right people or that He gives me guidance to make the right choices. But I’ve given up. I want to be alone now. I’m so tired of being rejected. I can’t keep lying to myself to hope for something better anymore, I don’t think I’m good enough for anyone. I can’t picture myself with another person anymore, years of rejection has made me lose sight of what they’d might look like. Whether it’s because I’m depressed or on the spectrum or ugly or a bad person or whatever, I don’t know or care anymore. I just know that I can’t find anyone and I’m going to stay single and I’ve lost hope. I don’t want to meet anymore people, I don’t want to go out, I don’t want to get my hopes up. I’m alone, I’m alone, I’m alone.

[why-what-no]

Dating Bella Swan Would Include

Pairing: Bella Swan x Reader

Warnings: Wuthering Heights. God, why did I make this so long.

Notes: Yes, I’m outing myself as a Twilight fan and a Bella simp, fight me. I could treat her right. (And no, I don’t support a lot of what SMeyer wrote in those books).

When you first heard of Bella Swan, you didn’t really care. She was more of a conversation topic for the guys or the school gossips.

Even when she first arrived, snatched up by Jessica and her friends, you didn’t care at first.

She was just some classmate

Sure, she was cute. But definitely the shy type, clearly uncomfortable with the level of awe she was receiving from the guys in your classes.

You guys first spoke a few days after she arrived. She was in the parking lot, leaning against her car. A book in her hand with a title you recognized.

“Wuthering Heights, huh?” You tilted your head to get a better look at the book title.

She was surprised for a second, not used to people asking her about books. People asking her about anything she liked, actually. “Um, yeah, have you read it?”

“Yep.”

Bella sat up a bit. “Oh, what did you think?”

“Meh.” You shrugged, being honest. “Not great. Everyone kinda sucks. It’s cool that you like it though.”

“But that’s the point.” You were a little caught off guard by her sudden investment in your conversation of your dislike of the book. But also glad to see her animated about something. “The best thing about them is their love.”

“Obsession isn’t love.”

“It’s not obsession.” The pretty brunette argued, mildly stuttering-ly. “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.” The halfway triumphant face Bella made when she quoted the book was kind of cute if you were honest.

You chuckled. “Fair enough, I’ll give that book one thing, it had a few good quotes. Although I prefer that heaven quote, personally. You know… I said his heaven would be only half alive; and he said mine would be drunk: I said I’d fall asleep in his; and he said he couldn’t breathe in mine”

You grinned at her, waving goodbye as the bell rang.

Bella just stared after you. Other people in Forks were interested in her, but none except you actually talked to her about things she liked. Even if you didn’t like them as well.

She started to pay attention to you the next day, curiosity about Edward Cullen being replaced by curiosity about you.

Fighting through her anxiety, she approached you in the library the next day.

“What do you think of Jane Austin?” Bella immediate winced at her bluntness as you turned to her in suprise.

But, thankfully, you didn’t comment on that. “Umm, I only got halfway through Sense & Sensibility. So I can’t really say.”

She was a little crestfallen. “You didn’t like that one either?”

“No, I liked it. But I got really busy, and it was a library book. So I had to hand it in before it got due.

“Oh.” Bella had no idea why she was relieved that you liked that book. “You can borrow mine, if you want? I can… drop it off at your place. Tomorrow, maybe?”

While you didn’t quite know why she cared so much about it, you agreed. It was the weekend, and your parents were busy. So there was no problem about Bella stopping by.

Well, no problems except the rain. But for some reason she turned up anyway.

“You could have stayed home. I would’ve understood.” You chuckled helping her out of her jacket.

“I know.” She gratefully took the towel you handed her, giving you the book she had been hiding from the rain under her jacket. “I just… It’s a bit of rain.”

You knew she was lying, it was obvious from the way she looked outside that she wasn’t happy about the storm. You supposed there wasn’t much rain in Arizona. “Okay, well. How about you hang out here until the weather gets a bit better. I can turn on the movie?”

“The movie?”

“You know.” You held up her copy of Sense & Sensibility, obviously meaning that.

“Oh… sure.” She blushed a little. “Can I just call my dad first? Let him know I’m at a friend’s place?”

When Bella returned from the phone, the two of you curled up on the couch. Her eyes were focused on the movie, giving you a chance to look at her properly.

The two of you got much closer after that. When Cullen returned to bio class from wherever he had been, he saw that Bella had already moved to a back table with you

That family moved away soon after that, not telling anyone about it. You weren’t surprised, they had always been weirdos.

When you finally admitted your feeling for her, it was definitely awkward. And for a long moment, you were sure that she didn’t feel the same.

But to your relief, she did. She kissed you gently, like she was afraid of hurting you. Or of you disappearing on her.

So many things in her life were uncertain, with Bella always being the one to make other people lives easier.

But she didn’t have to do that with you.

Most dates included movie nights are your house, cuddling under a blanket.

You’d listen to her talk about the books and songs she liked, just like she would do for you. Bella usually wasn’t comfortable with questions and attention. But she liked knowing you were interested in what she had to say.

Charlie took it pretty well when Bella told him, as you had already been around their house a lot. He was a little surprised, but already liked you. He knew you cared about his daughter.

She normally liked to avoid school dances and stuff, but if you wanted to do it she would go just for you. Letting you pick her outfit, watching you dance with your friends while looking all nice.

When it came to Jacob, he was a little defensive around you at first. Still having a crush on Bella.

And at one point you had to shut that down, telling him that if he really cared about her he would grow up and let them just be friends.

He accepted your relationship after that, becoming your friend as well. In fact, once he got over Bella and found a girlfriend of his own, you four would do double dates sometimes.

You and Bella were a steady couple. You knew she had a hard time letting people look after her or letting herself be happy. But you reassured her that you were on her side.

She was so grateful that you had spoken to her all those months ago.

You guys planned your future. Neither of you wanted to get married too early, letting things happen naturally. But you guys went to Arizona for university, with Bella wanting to be an English teacher

Her mother loved you, just like her dad did. Both of them seeing how much happier Bella was now that you two were together.

Your future apartment was cozy. Filled with her books, maybe a pet, and all of your love for each other.