#and then making me play the games ten years later. this is their fault and I mean that in the most positive way possible LMAO
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loveydoveylex · 1 year ago
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I've talked about it before but now especially that it's been, like, seven months, and my love for him shows literally no sign of slowing down anytime soon, I think I can confidently say that I don't think I've ever been as in love with a character as I have with rayman.
in the time I've been selfshipping with him, I have had a couple of characters in passing where I thought "oooh new crush maybe" but they faded so fast that they never even got the chance to turn into crushes LMAO - I swear my brain has been rewired by this goofy limbless guy, because I GENUINELY can't imagine seeing any other character in this same light anymore! 😭
I think he was also the final push I needed to identify as fictosexual. he was the one that got me thinking "ok this isn't even just for fun or coping I am just straightup actually attracted to this videogame man like a normal person is to their irl partner" HAHAH
yeah I'm a very strange dude... but I'm learning to not care 😅
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overseer-picard · 6 months ago
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I know we beat the "seasons are only 10 episodes now and it sucks" dead horse on the daily but another thing we lost when we stopped making the 24 episode 1 hour drama was the freedom to be narratively risky.
Star Trek, The X Files, and Doctor Who are great examples of this since they had the sandbox of Sci-Fi to play with. There are so many amazing, mind bending, soul stretching episodes that were teetering on the edge of flop or flying and through bold writing they didn't just fly but catapulted into the stratosphere of iconic. These episodes changed expectations and genre boundaries of what Sci-Fi could be for years to come.
We don't get episodes like this anymore because these new shows cannot afford the risk of a flop. The weekly episodic story structure that was once the foundation of television has been abandoned by Hollywood. The beautiful thing about this "simplistic" structure is that it provides a narrative safety net. You can take a risk and afford the miss because you can have a clean slate next week. You can't do that with continual narrative structures where only one story is being told over ten episodes (note to add: both structures are valuable, but total abandonment of one in favor of the other is detrimental).
These production companies gleefully hold the metaphorical gun of cancellation to the writer's heads and this actively ensures that stories are as safe as possible. This is creatively devastating, and ironically, guarantees catastrophic failure of shows. Safety is a bland cage.
Of course, the production think-tanks can't possibly take responsibility for their suffocating creative control so they blame the audiences for *checks notes* being on their phones too much, not subscribing enough, paying too little for ads, being too vocal online, not being vocal enough, being too demanding, being too liberal, being too conservative, whatever it takes to say "these failures are not our fault, you're just bad audiences".
Now, there are the episodes that did flop, but they flopped so spectacularly that we have entire days celebrating them decades later. These episodes took massive risks and instead of trying to back away from that creative intensity, these writers-of-old stepped up to bat, acknowledged they probably didn't have the screen-time to truly flesh out these concepts but by God they were going to try, and then hit so hard they shattered the bat. Sure they lost the game, but wow, what a thing to witness.
When I invariably get asked what my least favorite episodes of Star Trek are, I can't even remember because a "bad" episode to me is one that's simply forgettable.
There is no greater crime in the realm of artistic creation than being aesthetically beige and mind numbingly forgettable and yet for the past 15 years 8 out of 10 productions seem to be repeat offenders of exactly this.
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PROVE IT ───
jackson rippner ✧𖦹
ೃ⁀➷ “You think you are possessing me / But I've got my teeth in you.” — ‘Unicorn’, Angela Carter
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pairing. jackson rippner x reader
summary. after breaking up with your boyfriend. you meet a handsome stranger at a bar. you tell him your cunt’s better than the girl’s your boyfriend cheated on you with; he tells you to prove it.
warnings. swearing, slight breeding kink, unprotected sex, creampie, p in v, semi-public sex, porn with some plot, impact play, degradation/insults, SMUT UNDER THE CUT!
word count. 3.6k
a/n. i seriously doubt i wrote jackson’s character accurately in this so please comment anything i can improve on LOL🙏
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It’s not often you spill your entire life story to a stranger at the bar, but this one, this stranger with his watery blue eyes and plush lips, is oddly inviting; charismatic to a fault. It makes you want to give him everything, and absently, in your alcohol riddled mind, you think he’d make a good scammer. 
Or, serial killer, whichever he prefers really.
But it's not entirely his fault; you’re stress drinking, downing too many shots in too little a time frame, and the alcohol’s already hit your system ten-fold. 
You’re there because you’d broken up with your boyfriend the night before. You’d been dating just short of a year. He was required to travel a lot, mostly in Europe, as per his job, and you let him go each time without qualms - love them, let them go, right? 
Wrong. He’d been cheating on you since he went to Copenhagen — four months, now — with a pretty little Dane that wanted to marry. 
You were furious when he told you, of course, it’s fucking insanity for him to marry someone he’s known for four months, but you began seeing all the differences between you and the woman he cheated on you with: she, a perfect homemaker, you, a distressed professional he saw maybe once a month. 
“Hey, hey, don’t beat yourself up,” the stranger across from you said softly, breaking you out of your nostalgic stupor and back into reality. “‘cause he’s a right asshole. For cheating on you like that.”
The man had entered the bar hours after you did, housing a simple drink or two and absently watching the softball game on the bar TV, before you drunkenly inched closer to him, desperate to rant your dilemma to just about anyone who’d listen. He bit, and here you were now.  
You peered up at the man, inspecting him. He’s gorgeous, definitely, but you can’t tell if you actually think that, or your foggy, not-been-fucked-for-months mind just wants him to rail you into next week. 
No matter, you thought, downing another shot. It burned the back of your throat sweetly, fire trailing down your insides. “M’not beating myself up,” you protested weakly, “jus’ — m’just… wondering if her cunt was - so much better than mine,” 
He laughed, boisterously, the kind of laugh you hear rumble out from a close friend while you detail every wrongdoing or shameful memory in your life: he’s comfortable right now, as are you.
“Well,” he inched closer, large hand sitting itself on your thigh and slowly inching upwards, “if it bothers you that much, why not prove it? That your pussy’s as good as you think.” 
This wasn’t the first of his attempts to flirt with you: firstly he’d tucked a stray hair away from your face, later he swiped a drop of drink off your lip, then he’d clutched you by the waist, pulling you close to him when someone squeezed past you in the crowded bar. His brisk touch wasn’t unfamiliar by any means, but it did suggest more than the other ones, especially coupled with the lustful words he was purring in your ear. 
Then, there’s a gap in your memory. One too many shots, a stranger toying with the hem of the skirt you donned for the bar, and his sweet voice in your ear was too much for your dizzy head, and the only thing you remember is this: one moment, he’s getting braver, rough fingers ghosting the sensitive skin of your inner thigh, and the next, you’re pressed against a bathroom stall wall, the handsome stranger’s knee pushing your quivering legs apart. 
You’re trading wet, messy kisses, and his hands are sneakily climbing up your shirt till they reach your chest. There’s a sharp intake of breath from him: “Fuck, sweetheart, no bra? You really were looking for someone to prove you right,” he cooed, touching your breasts needily. 
He’s kneading you artfully, fingers pawing at your flesh like he’s never felt something so soft, so plump. Your back arches as he does this; you’re practically putty in his hands. 
It doesn’t slip past you that you’re being felt up in a bar bathroom by a gorgeous stranger whom you don’t know the name of, but you don’t care. “Please,” you beg, his name coming up completely blank on your tongue, “please.”
“‘Please’ what, honey?” The stranger says huskily, one of his hands moving from your breasts up to your jaw, pushing it to the side to gain access to your neck. “Please kiss me? Finger me? Fuck me?”
You’re too drunk - and fucking horny - to deal with his theatrics, so you whine instead of answering, your weak fingers carding through his brown locks. 
“God,” he says, “How long has it been since you’ve been properly fucked? Just some touching and you’re already too fucking dumb to speak.”
His words make your cheeks burn with shame, but it also makes your core throb. The oh-so sweet stranger who listened to your problems all night telling you you’re just a dumb horny bitch is such a juxtaposition it's got you all hot and bothered. 
“Please,” you beg again, more desperate than before, “I need you.” 
The man let out an incredulous chuckle, head cocking back. “Baby, don’t tell me you like it like that. God, you’re such a fucking whore,” he said, before undoing his belt buckle and fly. 
He had noticed how your legs clenched around his knee, how your breathing got sharper as soon as the words “dumb” and “whore” slipped out of his pretty mouth, how your fingers trailed his back needily, desperate for any kind of touch. 
You bit your lip, watching the stranger through bleary, hooded eyes. He’d pulled his pants down just enough for his boxer shorts to be visible, before he grabbed you by the waist and turned you to press your face against the wall. 
One of his arms then draped across your shoulders, pinning you down and arching your back, hard, making your ass press flush against the large tent in his underwear. You let out a small gasp at the feeling, and you could practically see the smirk curling slyly on his face. 
He can’t be that big, right? It was just your drunk mind, making him feel bigger than you thought through his shorts. Plus, you hadn’t been fucked in over a month — you were probably just not used to it. 
Because, that’d be totally unfair - he’s beautiful, charming, an amazing kisser, and has a huge cock? No fucking way — if he was all that, he’s definitely a secret terrorist, or something. 
However, these days, you’ve learned that you don't have the best intuition. First, with your boyfriend, then again, with the man who just pulled out his thick cock, stroking it gently. 
“Oh, fuck,” you cursed, head straining to look at him behind you. Unconsciously, you shyly closed your legs at the sight of him. 
“Ah, ah, ah,” the man crooned, his other hand sliding between your legs and spreading them apart once more. “No take backs, honey. You did say you wanted me, did you not?”
The two of you were flush against each other, and you could feel his hard length resting between your legs. Just that, just him between you, already had you trembling in anticipation. 
“Then fuck me already,” you bit back, feigning confidence. In actuality, you were thinking: how was all that supposed to fit? And, of all people, you, who hadn’t been stretched out to fit any cock at all, not since last month, when your boyfriend made his routine visit. You were a loyal girl, alright, and your fingers never went as deep as any cock could.
But the moment for you to reveal your worries passed, and he simpered. “So fucking eager.” 
Then, his large hands smoothed down the swell of your ass, following the curve, before he lifted his hand up and came down on your cheek, making a loud noise reverberate throughout the empty bathroom. 
Your breath caught in your throat, a choked gasp mixed with a tense moan coming out instead, and you flushed. Thank god you were pressed against the cold bathroom stall wall, for it provided a miniscule relief to your burning face. 
He’d spanked you, and you fucking moaned. 
“So you do like it dirty.” he cooed, fingers returning and hooking into the waistband of your panties. 
“I bet,” he said, dragging the thin fabric down extremely slow, “that you didn’t come to the bar tonight to just drink,” he pressed closer against you, your folds now sitting right above his thick length, “you came, with no bra and a slutty skirt on, looking to get fucked senseless, didn’t you?”
He slowly slid in and out against your folds, his cock just barely grazing your clit, and you swore you could have screamed. The way he was teasing you was absolutely delectable and, in the same vein, incredibly torturous. 
“Answer me, honey.” he hummed, free hand rubbing circles on the skin of your hip. 
You let out an exasperated groan. “I - I came here tonight, to - ah!” you squeaked when the fat tip of the man’s cock poked your tight hole. 
“You came here tonight to… what?” He said, nonchalant, as if he wasn’t slowly driving his large dick into you. 
“I came here to…” you squeezed your eyes shut, trying to ground your thoughts, and squarely not think about how mouthwateringly good the handsome strangers cock felt, “to get—“
Then, the loudest keen you’d ever heard tore out of you, your eyes rolling into the back of your head, when he suddenly shoved all of his length into your soaking cunt. 
He bottomed out with a breathy laugh, watching your knees buckle and your mouth hang wide open. Then, once more, his calloused hand came down on your ass, a large crack sounding out within the bathroom. 
“Shut the fuck up, whore. Someone’ll hear.” The stranger said, as if he hadn’t just made a loud noise spanking you like that. 
But the way he insulted, complemented, mocked and teased all in a few sentences had you shuddering; never in your life did you think such dirty words could make you so wet. 
You barely kept in another whine, waves of pleasure ebbing throughout your body. The burning pain of the spank in combination to how your walls squeezed around his cock had you barely coherent, your face taut with pleasure. 
“Fuck, baby, you’re dripping all over my cock,” he whispered, leaning down for you to hear. As he did so, however, his dick pressed further into you, and another helpless groan rolled off your tongue. 
“But you’re too goddamn loud.” The stranger growled, and the arm of the hand that was pressing you against the wall shifted, now covering your mouth. 
Before you could protest, he slid out, then snapped into you. Immediately, you saw stars, and a muffled mewl slipped past your lips. 
“Jesus christ,” he murmured, “your little fuckhole’s taking me so well.” He began to slide in and out at a fast, rhythmic pace, so fast you could barely comprehend the ecstacy you were feeling. 
“Oh my god,” you barely stuttered out past his large hand. He was pounding in and out of you relentlessly, selfishly, no regard for your moans or helpless whines, merely focussed on thrusting his fat cock into your sweet cunt. 
Then, the both of you heard the bathroom door open, and you froze. The handsome stranger moved quickly, grabbing you by the waist and planting you on his lap as he sat down on the toilet. His other hand, still trained on your mouth, gripped tighter than ever when he felt the groan bubble up from your throat: this new position of you on his lap had his long length pressed right against your cervix.
“Now you really gotta be quiet, honey,” he whispered, pressing his face into your neck. You shut your eyes helplessly, a dejected whimper exiting your mouth. 
“Just be fucking quiet. You don’t want everyone in this bar to know what a dirty slut you are, spreading your legs for a fucking stranger in the bathroom, right?” He said, words foul and like poison, but actions completely stark to it: he was pressing sweet, chaste kisses on your shoulder, laying his head on your back. 
The man in the other stall was taking so fucking long to finish, and, despite the stranger’s words, he began to slowly rut into you, his large hands coming to rest on your hips and help you slide up and down on his cock.
Your eyes widened. “What are- ah, wh— what are you doing?” you said, a stuttered, hesitant moan leaving  your mouth, but you were completely without the motivation to actually stop him: the pleasure you felt earlier had increased immensely in this slower, riskier pace he took on. 
“Shh,” was all you saw him say, as you strained your neck to look at him. He looked the epitome of smug, lips curled, cheeks flushed attractively, strands of hair falling down onto his forehead.
Without his hand to muffle your groans, you muffled them yourself, biting down on your tongue. One hand of yours gripped onto the stranger's thigh to keep your balance, and your other hand sneakily traveled down to your wet, hot mound, fingers beginning to rub at your clit. 
He noticed this, however, hand gripping at your wrist and pulling you back to pin your arm behind you. “Only I get to touch you,” he snarled, “because this fuckin’ pussy’s all mine. Gonna be all mine.”
You let out a shaky exhale at his words, but you found your cunt more flexible than before, the soft slapping of your skin between each other sounding easier, wetter. Jesus, did you really get more turned on by what he’d said?
Finally, the person who had wandered in and entered the stall beside you exited the bathroom entirely, and you belted out a sharp moan with how the stranger swiftly picked you up and pressed you against the wall once more, this time facing him. 
He plunged his big cock into you like nothing before, animalistically, nails digging so hard into your hips you swore he drew blood. His pace was stuttered, desperate, like nothing could distract him from pounding into you, not even a fucking meteor. 
You, on the other hand, were arching, the pleasure taking your body over completely. Your hands carded through his brown hair, tugging when he hit that particularly spongy spot into you. He groaned, a rough and stuttered thing, feeling himself brush against that spot every time. 
Your tight cunt was stretching and contracting around his dick, like you were made with his fat length in mind, and it drove you up the fucking wall: the pain in your hip, the cold linoleum wall, his cock thrusting in and out — it was all so much, and your orgasm began to spill out from under you. It was slow, like water coming out of an overfilled glass.
“You — god, you’re fucking coming, aren’t you,” the stranger said knowingly. Your cunt had gotten tenser, stickier, trying to grip at him like you were afraid he’d never come back to you. 
You nodded rapidly, opting to do so in fear an unintelligible string of groans would come out instead of your words. 
He grinned, and lifted your legs to wrap around his waist, allowing his cock deeper access into you. Your toes curled, the new angle like being impaled, his dick easily slipping past your slick folds. 
One of his hands lifted off your hip and trailed across your lower stomach, “Can you feel that, honey? Its my fucking cock, so deep m’gonna shoot my come right in your womb,” he purred, pressing the bulge. 
Both of you were affected, a breathy grunt slipping past his lips, and you a feverish mewl. You couldn’t believe how big he was, large enough for him to be fucking visible on you from the outside. 
Suddenly, you remembered the man’s name: he’d said it, offhand, to the bartender before you dragged him to the bathroom. He asked the bartender to put your drinks on his tab, under the name Jackson. 
You face grew taut, your orgasm suddenly switching from a slow, sneaky drip to a hard smack, right across your face. “Jackson! Jackson, please,” you moaned at last, his name sounding right at home on your tongue. 
“Fuck, honey, you remembered? God, that’s so hot,” He whispered sweetly, then dragged you through your orgasm, thick cock pounding in and out of your throbbing core. 
It was like all the pleasure had steadily built up within your insides, all up into a big ball, then had suddenly burst, flowing throughout your entire body like you weren’t already being fucked relentlessly. 
“Such a - fuck - tight and pretty pussy,” he said, leaning into rest his head against your chest. You were weak, sensitively riding out your high, but you knew Jackson wasn’t quite as close. 
His thrusts began getting sloppier, harsher and focussed merely on feeling your walls against every inch of him. Your head rested beside his own, your eyes practically crossing with the overstimulation. 
Despite your orgasm, your cunt was still soaking, definitely dripping and marking a wet patch on both your skirt and his pants. It made you tremble, thinking of you two tiredly exiting the bathroom, disheveled and having to cover the other up. 
At this point, you didn’t know what kind of filthy fucking noises were exiting your mouth, with Jackson’s grunts and groans covering up your whines completely.
“M’gonna come,” he said a few long moments later, almost inaudible. “Say my name, say who owns this tight fucking pussy.”
“You do! Jackson does!” You exclaimed, his cock ripping in and out of you quicker and more jolted. “Jackson owns this pussy!”
Jackson grinned weakly, and with one final, harried thrust, he let go deep within you. He clenched his jaw, piercing blue eyes shutting tight and losing himself within the warm and wet feeling of your cunt squeezing him for every drop. 
You were so fucking full, and even when Jackson pulled his softening cock out of you — which, was still huge despite its idleness — you felt stuffed to the brim. 
His come dripped down your leg, and he promptly pulled your panties up, patting your worn out cunt as he did so. “You’re taking all my fucking come, so good honey.” he said, pressing a hungry kiss to your neck. “You were right: this cunt’s better than whoever your shit ex cheated on you with.”
“Told you so.” You gazed up at him through heavy-lidded, gleeful eyes. He was an absolute darling sweetheart, it seemed, switching from degradingly fucking you to romantically praising you. “Are you… up for round two?” you said, as he slipped his hand within your own, clasping tightly. You didn’t really mean round two - though, you wouldn’t protest it, especially with his delectable way of fucking you - you actually just wanted to go home with him… see where this relationship could lead you.
“Sweetheart, you don’t have to ask. You’re comin’ home with me tonight,” he saw through you cheekily, pulling you close to him. 
So, you did go home with him, and in the morning you laid beside him in the ruffled white sheets, counting the freckles on his face.
His eyes fluttered open when you shuffled. “Were you watching me?” he said, voice low and sleepy. 
You nodded silently, your hand coming up to pet his skin comfortingly. After a beat passed, you asked the question that was bothering you all morning. “Jackson, you wanted to fuck me first, right?”
He blinked, tense for a moment, before smoothing out his expression. “What?” he opted on saying instead, sounding every bit clueless and entirely convincing.
Not convincing enough for you, however. “Baby, you think I didn’t notice the shots you were calling over and inching toward me? I was drunk, not stupid.”
“Are you saying I took advantage of you?” He said darkly, a side of him otherwise unknown to you ‘till now. 
You raised a judging brow. “No need to be offended. I wanted to see where it was going to go: ‘did the handsome stranger want to fuck me, or did he want to kill me?’.”
He pulled you close to him, his arm snaking around your hips. “So, what are you saying?” he said, pressing a patronizing kiss to your forehead. 
“Hm. Well, I jus’ wanna know if this is a one nightstand.”
“And you don’t care about the - drinks, the “taking advantage” part?”
You let out a laugh. “I was confident, darling; I keep pepper spray and a pocket knife in my purse. Even if you did - which you didn’t - I’d make it out alive.”
Jackson bit his lip, looking up at you. This had meant to be a one night stand, considering the job he had, but you were looking at him so sweetly, so accepting, like you secretly knew what he did for a living and wanted him despite it. 
“Not a one night stand,” he murmured, leaning into your touch. 
You beamed, and, later, when you did find out what he did for a living, you merely cocked your head. Thought about it… outweighed the pros, the cons, (and the fact you were completely right: he was perfect, but also a fucking sociopath), and merely shrugged. 
“Honey, you’ll never do anything to me. Why should I care what you do for a living? Just don’t,” you warned, staring at him like you could and would fucking kill him, “cheat on me.” 
You didn’t have the best intuition. And, as it turned out, a great moral compass, either. 
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despacito-uwu16 · 3 months ago
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The Rising Action
Kenji Sato x Journalist! Reader
Enemies To Lovers | Foced Proximity | Pining
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“Hit me like a poisonous dart. You were trouble right from the start. Should’ve ran I guess that’s my fault”. - I do by G-IDLE
⁺˚•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙˚⁺‧͙⁺˚•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙˚⁺‧͙⁺˚•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙˚⁺‧͙⁺˚•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙˚⁺‧͙⁺˚•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙˚⁺‧͙⁺˚•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙˚⁺‧͙⁺˚•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙˚⁺‧͙⁺
“Ken Sato has received a 3rd strike. One wonders, how hard is it to hit a small ball, I bet a one-eyed zombie could hit a ball better than he can”. You say into your recorder.
“Wow, you are harsh”. Ami says as you end your recording.
“It’s called being honest. I report what I see”. You reminded her. “I mean have you seen the way he played today”?
“Yes Y/N, we’ve been watching the same game. But it got me thinking. When I interviewed Ken, he refused to talk about his family. He refuses to show vulnerability. It’s like he’s wearing some sort of mask. Something is going on with him, and when I know something, I don’t let go”. Said Ami.
“Wow, you are very determined”.
“At least get to know him before you start roasting him”. Ami suggested.
“Note taken”. You lied.
After graduating college, you were hired as an intern at the Los Angeles Magazine. You would stay at the office after midnight to revise and edit articles for other reporters. Eventually, your boss gave you your first assignment. Coincidentally, at a baseball game. You took in every detail of every player, noting all of the small mistakes and flaws of the games. Everyone looked like they didn’t know how to play, much to your disappointment. But it made juicy material for you.
That night, you were writing like you were running out of time. The article you wrote was on some of the players and their failures. The morning after, you got called in to the editor’s office. At first you thought you were about to get fired, but your surprise, he complimented on your writing style, asking you to cover another baseball game. Eventually, you got promoted to journalist within 6 months of working there, naming you the youngest journalist in the field. A year and a half later, you were offered a job at the International Review Journal. They pay twice as much as the last salary and you get to travel for your job. It didn’t take too long for you to accept it, and the next thing you knew, you were on your way to make your mark in the world.
Everywhere you went, your words impacted people and the way they perceive their favorite athletes. All of the readers love you, while the athletes feared and hated you. You didn’t care for the love and hate. What matters is you were unstoppable.
Now here you are in Tokyo, Japan watching the Ken Sato struggle. You felt bad that the Giants were on a loosing streak, but you didn’t feel bad for Ken. It was his ego that brought him here after all. You leaned back in your chair with your recorder in your hand, while watching Ken having a temper tantrum in front of his coach.
~
As you walked out of the stadium, you were fishing out your car keys when you realized something was missing in your bag.
“Where’s my recorder”?
Panic starts to settle in as you looked through your tote bag.
“Looking for this”?
You turn around to see Ken Sato, waving your recording device in front of you.
“Well, if it isn’t the walking loosing streak. I would say great game, but let’s face it, i’ve seen better”. You sneered.
“Y/N L/N, the pain in my ass, Let me guess, obsessing with me as usual”? He asks
“I’m not obsessed with you, and even if I were, I would rather launch myself out of Tokyo on a ten foot pole than fan girl over a baseball fuck up”. You rolled your eyes.
“You have really creative comments Y/N. I think my favorite one has to be when you called me the hare who couldn’t beat the tortoise. But slower and more stupider”. He laughs.
“I also noticed that I’m the only person mentioned in your commentary. Am I just a cover for the fact that you know nothing about baseball”?
“Of course I know everything about baseball. I just like taking notes on the most notable failures in baseball history”. You scoffed
He lets out a laugh that still annoys you to this day. “It’s nice to know I have a fan”.
“Once again, the only person obsessed with you is you”. You retorted.
“Says the person who followed me all the way here from California”. He tossed your recorder to you. “I’ve read some of your stuff online. Judging by your writing style, you should consider a career in fanfiction writing instead of sports journalism”.
“Fuck off Ken”. You said.
While he turned around to walk away, you gave him the middle finger, and he stuck up his in return.
You rolled your eyes as you got into your car.
“What an asshole. And for the record, I was here first”. You aggressively push your car key into the ignition.
You were back in your apartment, editing your article on your gray velvet couch. You took a sip of your pineapple smoothie as you reread the last paragraph you’ve just written.
“Ken Sato, “the best living player”, is now the best living curse. From being on cloud 9 to falling into the pits of underworld, he might as well drag the giants along with him. Tread carefully Sato, consider yourself a dead man walking. If looks could kill, we wouldn’t be Coach Shimura”.
Is this considered slander? Possibly. But to you, it’s called journalism. And the best part of the job is the chaos it causes post-publish.
After rereading and editing, you hit publish. You sat back and watched as the likes and views came in.
Later that night, you were celebrating the success of your latest article, alone. You downed the last of your dirty shirley, feeling content with yourself and the hard work you’ve put in. You were about to ask for the bill, when the bartender placed a martini in front of you.
“I didn’t order this”. You look up at the bartender confused.
“It came from the gentleman in the black blazer”. He points to the man sitting at the end of the bar.
You look over with curiosity to see the man sitting at the end of the bar. Only to be disappointed when you realized the guy was Ken. He got up and walks up to you.
You glare at Ken as he approached you. “What do you want”?
“Can’t a man treat a cute girl to a drink”? He takes a seat next you.
You’ve been down this road before. After you publish an article, the athletes either bombards you with threatening emails or bribe you with money or expensive gifts. Either way, it didn’t faze you.
“If this is about the article, I’m not taking it down or tweaking it to your liking”.
“I usually don’t give a shit about what you personally think of me. However, my career is on the line because of you”. He said, his onyx eyes giving you the death stare.
“Awww, it’s not my fault the world thinks you suck. Go cry about it”. You roll your eyes.
“I’m not begging for you to delete the article. Instead, I’m offering you an opportunity”. Kenji proposes.
You turn your body towards him. “Go on”.
“You come live with me for the next two months, get the Kenji exclusive. You get to ask any question, and you get to follow me around. It’ll make great coverage for the sports magazine”. He leans back in his chair.
“Okay and why would I want to live with you”? You scoff.
Kenji smirks. “You can decline the once in a lifetime opportunity to do this interview, or I can tell everyone about our little escapade during college”.
You glared at him. “Excuse me”?
“Imagine if people found out that Ken Sato, a baseball legend and Y/N L/N, his biggest hater had a one night stand during our junior year. That would seriously affect your following and your career, wouldn’t it”? Kenji condescends, leaving you completely disgusted.
“You’re not the only one who can play dirty Y/N”. He smirks.
Of all the annoying things Kenji does, one thing you did not expect from him is to straight out blackmail you. Another is the fact that he’s right. If people found out you slept with an athlete, you can kiss your promotion goodbye. For once, you were backed into a corner, and there was nothing you could do or say to save yourself. Swallowing your pride, you decided to take the defeat.
“Fine. I’ll come shadow you”. You surrendered reluctantly.
Kenji smiles from ear to ear.
“But if you pull some shady shit on me, I’m ending it”. You threatened.
“Won’t be a problem”. Kenji pulls out a pen and writes something down on a napkin.
“Here’s the address to my house. Arrive at my place on Sunday at 9 am sharp”. He hands you the napkin and hands some cash to the bar tender.
“I look forward to this interview Y/N”. He winks at you as he leaves the bar. You sunk in your seat appalled.
“What the fuck did I just agree to”?
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ahonice · 1 year ago
Text
just friends
nico hischier x fem reader
word count: 10.9k (the longest fic i’ve ever written i’m so sorry)
warnings: unplanned pregnancy and mentions of unprotected sex, cursing, the word climax, a little angsty, if i forgot anything lmk.
note: i started this on september 1st, this actually took forever. ANYWAYS hope y’all enjoy lmk if you love it, if you hate it, any feedback in general is appreciated!! love y’all babes <3
+++
it was an accident.
you and nico had been in a casual friends with benefits relationship for about a year and a half, having known each other for three years in total, when it happened.
you and nico were being stupid one night. after a few too many drinks, and no condoms to be found anywhere in your apartment, you and nico fucked without protection. 
you were on birth control and nico had pulled out, well he did halfway through his climax.
you didn’t think anything when you didn’t get your period the following month or the two months after that, you hadn’t had a period in four years thanks to your birth control. 
for weeks you thought you were just bloated, maybe you had been eating too much lately. you were much hungrier these past couple of weeks, it made sense.
it wasn’t until you threw up eleven times in one week before ten in the morning that you grew suspicious and worried at the possibility of you being pregnant. 
you stopped by the drug store on your way home from work and panic bought nine different pregnancy tests. 
you drank seven things of water during the day and took no bathroom breaks in preparation for this moment, and you had never been so scared to get test results back.
positive. every single one of them.
you felt faint, like the walls of your tiny studio apartment were caving in on you. 
you couldn’t have a baby, you couldn’t be a mother, it just couldn’t happen.
+++
the first thing you had to do was tell nico.
you and nico weren’t exclusive, and while he probably has his fair share of hookups, you did not. he was the only possible candidate for the father. 
nico was currently three days into an eight day road trip, and as much as you wanted to just get it over with, you knew this is not the type of bombshell to be dropped via snapchat or imessage, considering you two only used imessage to play game pigeon and the nature of your saved snaps was not welcome to an “i’m pregnant and you’re the father” chat.
you decided to just text him that you needed to talk when he got back.
to: nico (hookup)
hey lmk when you’re back in newark, we need to talk.
from: nico (hookup)
oh? 
from: nico (hookup)
everything okay?
to: nico (hookup)
not quite sure yet.
+++
five days later you found yourself at nico’s door, nine positive pregnancy tests in a ziploc bag in your purse. you were shaking, you don’t think you had ever been this nervous in your entire life.
nico opened up the door with a wide smile. you didn’t know what face you were making, but it was enough to make nico’s face fall and worry come through his tone of voice.
“y/n? what’s wrong?”
you didn’t even register his words, you just moved past him into his apartment and sat down on his couch.
“y/n?”
“i’m pregnant.”
the words fell out of your mouth before you could stop them.
nico sat there frozen on the loveseat as you pulled the pregnancy tests out of your purse.
around three minutes later you pulled your phone out and opened up some home makeover game, nico was still frozen.
“-oh and you’re the father but you probably already know that.”
+++
it was around four minutes later when nico finally opened up his mouth to speak.
“what are you going to do?”
his question made me a little angry, yes he wasn’t entirely at fault, but he could’ve at least taken
a little responsibility and said “we” instead of “you”.
“i don’t know yet, i have an appointment with an obgyn on saturday. i’ll learn about my options there.”
“what time?” nico asked, opening up his phone calendar.
“10:30.” you knew that nico had practice at that time because it was a game day. “you have practice, i’ll just let you know what i decide to do.”
“this is my child too, i want to be a part of the decision making.”
“well you’re not going to be the one taking care of them, i am.”
“what makes you think that? i mean obviously i will be on the road at times during the season, but when we’re on homestands and since we’ll be married we’ll have the off season together-”
“woah take a girl out to dinner before you propose nico.” you interrupted. “we aren’t getting married…” “we’ve done a whole lot more than just dinner, and yes we are? how are we supposed to raise this baby together if we aren’t together.”
“have you ever heard of co-parenting? -also who says i’m keeping it, i haven’t made my decision yet.” you get up from your spot on his couch. “look i have to go, i’ll tell you about my appointment tomorrow.”
nico let out a heavy sigh. “don’t make any decisions without me.”
+++
“y/n?” 
you looked up at the nurse who was holding the door open with their body and walked up to greet her, your knees slightly wobbling from the nerves running through you.
“please follow me into room two, i’m just gonna get your vitals.”
you stayed silent as she took your blood pressure and checked your reflexes, you had to take a moment to calm yourself down after you saw your weight, you had freaked out before you remembered that there was currently another being inside of you.
“alright your vitals look good.” the nurse spoke before exiting the room. “follow me into this room, you can go ahead and take a seat on the bed in the center of the room. the doctor should be in shortly.”
you nodded and thanked her before she exited and you took a look around the room, taking a few mirror selfies to send to the family group chat. you had told all of your immediate relatives over facetime on your way back from nico’s yesterday, the news was received better than you had planned so you couldn’t say anything about your mom’s comments on being a grandmother, she made it very clear she was on team “keep the baby and be a badass single mom in the city”.
you sat on the bed/chair thing, ripping the paper instantly as you tried to get comfortable.
you took your eyes off your phone as you heard a series of knocks.
“miss y/n?”
“yes, that’s me.”
“hi, i’m dr.swarn i’ll be assisting you today. is this your first ultrasound?” the middle aged woman asked.
“yes it is.”
“and do you know how far along you are?”
“i’m assuming three to four months…i just found out yesterday…”
“well we will find out today.” the doctor began getting the sonograph ready as you attempted to mentally prepare yourself. “-and i have to ask…the father, is he in the picture?”
“he is, but it’s complicated…we aren’t together.”
the doctor simply nodded before asking you to lift up your shirt and warning you that the gel might be cold.
after a few moments, a grainy black and white image showed up on the screen, dr. swarn pointing things out. “-and this is your baby! it is a couple weeks too early to figure out the gender, so i would estimate that you are about four months pregnant.” 
you didn’t really focus on anything she said though, all your attention was on that tiny blob.
“do you want to hear the heartbeat?”
as dr.swarn began to turn up the volume the door swung open.
a very out of breath and sweaty nico stood in the door frame, bent over catching his breath.
“sorry i’m late!” nico walked up towards where you were lying on the table and smiled up at the doctor. “i’m the father.”
dr.swarn smiled at him before speaking. “well you made it just in time, we were just about to listen to the heartbeat.”
she had the screen turned towards her so nico had yet to see the baby. “this is your baby-” dr.swarn turned the screen back towards you and nico. “and this is their heartbeat.”
it was like everything around you had disappeared and all you knew was the image of your baby and the sound of their heartbeat. nico grabbed your hand and effectively pulled you out of the trance you were in.
“would you like me to discuss your options with you?” dr.swarn asked, turning the heartbeat down.
“no, i’m keeping it.”
+++
you got a recording of the heartbeat and got a couple prints of the ultrasound before exiting the doctors office, nico getting the same things as you.
“so you’re actually gonna keep it?” nico asked once he had walked you to your car.
“yes i am, and i don’t expect you to be involved at all if you don’t want to…i can do this on my own.”
“well you won’t have to.” nico started. “move into my apartment.”
you sighed, but nico spoke again before you could. “look we don’t have to get married right away, just move in…we will see how things go from there.”
“nico- i’m not moving in with you, i am perfectly fine living in my apartment and so is the baby.” you didn’t mean for your tone to come off so harsh, well you did a little bit, but you didn’t want nico thinking that you would be getting together just because of your child together. “look nico, i know that you believe that to raise a child the mother and father need to be together but i don’t and i don’t want to be with someone just because people think we have to. i will not be having a shotgun wedding.”
“what is a shotgun wedding?”
“-it does matter. we are not getting together nico.” you got into the driver's seat of your car. “i don’t really know how this co-parenting shit works, and i’m assuming you don’t either so let’s just make sure to be patient with one another, okay?”
nico nodded before you said your goodbyes and drove off in the direction of your apartment.
+++
around two weeks later as you sat in your little cubicle your phone started ringing.
nico (hookup)
you sighed and saved the progress on your current project before picking up the phone.
“hello?”
“hey, are you home right now?”
“no, it’s two in the afternoon on a thursday. i’m at work.”
“oh i didn’t think you would work while pregnant…” “i need to fund this child’s life somehow.”
there was an awkward silence for a few moments before you spoke up again.
“did you need something nico?”
“well i called to ask if you would like to come over for dinner tonight.”
“what are you making? because i don’t mean to sound rude, but this child doesn’t like anything i cook and you’re much worse than me.”
“hey i’m not that bad!” you both chuckle before nico speaks again. “is there anything you’re craving right now?”
“jiggly cheesecake and that gouda mac n cheese with sausage i got when we went to new york two years ago.”
“okay i can’t make any of that.”
“just make whatever you want, i’ll force it down if the baby doesn’t like it. what time should i come over?”
“5:30?”
“okay, i’ll just come straight from work.”
you said your goodbyes before you go back to your work.
+++ 
once the clock struck 4:45 you called it a day and headed out to your car before driving to nico’s apartment.
you knocked on the door, a tad bit confused because you heard multiple voices on the other side of the door, if it wasn’t for the welcome mat on the outside that you had forced nico to get you would’ve thought you were at the wrong door.
“hey.” nico opened the door, the voices only getting louder.
“hey…are other people joining us…?” you asked, looking around his apartment confused.
“yeah i probably should've mentioned-”
nico had begun to speak, but a voice that you knew as nico’s mother. “is y/n here!?” soon you saw her smiling faces coming towards you with open arms. “oh come here, it’s been too long sweetie!”
god bless your work bag that seemed to span to five feet because it was hiding your baby bump that was very noticeable in your blouse.
“hello mrs.hischier, how are you?” you asked politely, but you were really wanting to strangle nico right now.
“i’m great! luca and nina are here too!”
“oh that’s great! i’ll go see them in a second, i just need to talk to nico really quickly.”
you smiled as she walked away before turning to nico and gave him a swift slap on the backside of his head. “are you crazy!? did you just ambush a pregnancy announcement on me!?”
“look, i know this probably wasn’t the best way to approach this, but my family needs to know.”
“i am fully aware of that, but this is something that you plan out, not something you spring on a pregnant woman!”
“i’m sorry! just- let’s go into the living room, nina really misses you.”
you had met nico’s family multiple times before and were especially close with his sister nina, she was the only one who knew of you and nico’s odd relationship and was the number one supporter of you two getting together.
you walked out, your work bag still covering yourself as you greeted luca and nina, the later giving you a look that only made you nervous.
you made small talk with the family before nico announced that dinner was ready. thankfully nico had brought your plate to you, both you and the fetus were happy with the look and smell of the fettuccine alfredo, with sausage, that nico had made. “thank you.”
as much as you didn’t want to, you had to set your work bag that had been used as a bump shield on the floor to eat, you just hoped everyone was too distracted by the food in front of them to notice.
“so what was the news that you had to share? i assume it has to do with y/n?” mrs.hischier spoke excitedly, it was obvious she was hoping that you and nico had started dating.
“y/n is pregnant and i’m the father and we are keeping it, but we are not together.” nico spoke quickly, his head down as if he was a child being scolded.
“oh…” 
it wasn’t the worst reaction that could’ve happened, but it definitely wasn’t the best one, but how good of a reaction could one get after they tell their mother they got their fuck buddy pregnant.
“we’re figuring this all out as we go, but i am very sorry mrs.hischier i understand this isn’t how one would usually want their son to become a father.” you apologized, your head was also down.
“i’m not angry, just shocked and a little bit disappointed in you nico…but everything happens for a reason so i fully support you two.” you and nico let out identical sighs as his mother revealed that she was not going to disown either of us.
+++
the rest of dinner went great, you even made plans for both yours and nico’s family to get together for a small gender reveal brunch before the hischier’s headed back to switzerland.
nina had called dibs on walking you out so you prepared yourself for the question you knew she was going to ask.
“are you absolutely, one hundred percent, serious when you say that you and nico are not together in any way, whatsoever, romantically?” nina asks, using too many synonyms for the word definitely.
“yes i am absolutely, one hundred percent, serious when i say that me and nico are not together in any way, whatsoever, romantically.” you reply, mocking her words.
she doesn’t seem too pleased by your answer and whines. “why? i want a sister and you are the only person i like, in general.”
“that is very sweet nina, but me and nico don’t like each other in that way. we’ve been…boinking for almost two years now. if either of us had feelings, i guarantee they would have been confessed by now and we probably would not be expecting a child out of wedlock in five months.”
nina let out an exaggerated sigh as you neared your car. 
“me and nico are just friends, okay?” you spoke, getting into the driver’s seat. 
“yeah friends who happen to boink on a weekly basis and are now expecting a child together.”
“i’ll see you at brunch on sunday nina.” 
+++
“i’m team boy and girl!”
“mom i already told you we aren’t having twins.” 
the sunday morning activities were supposed to be fun, and they were, but they were causing you a shit load of stress. 
it seemed like everything nico was doing was aggravating you, and when nico and your little brother were in the same room it was a recipe for disaster. plus your mother wasn’t any help, she teamed up with nico’s mother and kept pressuring you to at least move in with nico, who you believe put them up to it.
“okay let’s just get this over with!” you yelled out, just wanting to figure out the gender so you could go home and have some much needed alone time.
nico came up next to you holding the envelope that contained the gender. “you ready mommy?”
“ew, don’t call me that.”
everyone had their phones out and began counting down as nico opened up the envelope.
“it’s a…GIRL!”
everyone’s cheers only furthered your headache, but you gave nico a smile and side hug before going over to your mother who ecstatically hugged you.
“a baby girl! i’m so happy for you y/n, my first grandbaby!”
you quickly said your goodbyes, not bothering to eat any of the food that was made or open any of the gifts that were brought.
were you being a rude, ungrateful, bitch for no reason? yes. but you were too exhausted to care or feel bad about nico’s constant dejected looks on his face throughout the morning.
+++
the second you got home you passed out on the floor of your apartment , god bless the pregnancy pillow your mother had delivered to you because you had a weird thing for sleeping on hardwood floors. 
you woke up at three in the afternoon to a series of knocks at your door. you took a while to get up and once you did you regretted it because you saw nico looking very angry through the peephole. 
you grabbed a sharpie and a sheet of paper towel and wrote the words “GO AWAY” in a very bold font before slipping it under the door.
the knocking silenced for a moment before it got louder, along with a call of your name.
“y/n. open the fucking door.” nico was seething.
you opened up the door. “what? i was sleeping.” you pointed to the pillow and blanket on the floor of your kitchen.
“on the floor?”
“yes- what do you need nico?”
“you left the party so quickly that you didn’t even get to open up your gifts, or acknowledge them.” nico gestured to the large bag of wrapped gifts that sat at his feet. “you actually left the party so early that the food wasn’t even served before you had said your goodbyes, which by the way thanks for not saying goodbye to me and thanks so much for the fake smile and side hug you gave me after we found out the gender of our child. that’s gonna be a real joy to look back on.”
you felt your headache coming back, you were starting to believe the sole cause was nico.
“seriously what was your problem this morning?” nico asked after a few moments of silence.
“my problem was that i didn’t even want this baby in the first place and i know for a fact i’m not going to be a good mother, and you! nico you are my problem, everything you did this morning seemed to piss me off and it’s probably just the pregnancy hormones making me easily irritable, but you were getting on my fucking nerves by breathing this morning.” 
nico kicked the bag of gifts into your apartment in a fit. “well i’ll stop bothering you then.”
you knew you should’ve been a rational adult and went after him, but you weren’t, so you slammed the door and brought all the gifts to the living room so you could open them.
you smiled as you realized that all of the gifts were for you. your favorite candies and snacks, maternity clothes, and some prenatal care items that you probably should’ve started taking the second you found out you were pregnant, with the exception of one gift. it was from nico, you could tell by the poor wrapping job, you had been the one to wrap all of his christmas gifts ever since you met him except your own of course, those he always wrapped himself and they were a nightmare.
once you got his present unwrapped you found a boat load of mini devils gear. bibs, socks, a onesie, even a pair of noise canceling headphones. at the bottom of the box you found a very tiny devil’s jersey with the number thirteen on the back and a big patched “C” on the front. you teared up once you saw the big patched “DADDY” above the thirteen on the back and a matching bow headband with a small note. i’m writing this before the reveal and i know we don’t know the sex yet, but i’m hoping for a girl and i know you are too. i hope the headband is a little good luck charm that baby girl judith is on the way. - nico.
you teared up at the note, especially at nico remembering the name you’ve always wanted to name your first daughter.
you quickly called nico, tears streaming down your face and nose all stuffy.
“hello?”
“come back up…please.”
“on my way.”
+++
you stood by the door waiting for nico to knock and once he did you immediately opened the door and nearly tackled him from the hug you gave him.
“i’m sorry.” you mumbled, still crying.
“i know, it’s okay.”
you walked into your apartment and sat on your couch next to nico. “you remembered my baby names.”
“how could i forget them?” nico stated.
“what would you have done if it was baby boy gannon instead of judith?” you asked, turning your head that was leaned on his shoulder up to look at him.
“turn the headband into a bowtie…?”
you laughed at him before your stomach growled loudly.
“what are you in the mood for?” nico asked immediately.
“canes, but that’s in the city and i don’t wanna make you go to new york.” 
nico stood up after hearing your restaurant of choice. “c’mon, i’ll drive.”
+++
“how is it?”
“this is sex in a chicken tender nico, thank you for taking me here.”
nico laughed at your response before the both of you continued to eat a comfortable silence.
“hey tell your family that i’m sorry for how i was acting this morning, i am super grateful for them helping plan the reveal and to delay their flight to attend.”
“don’t worry, they understand that pregnancy emotions can be a lot, but i will still let them know.” nico said, making a mental note to text the family group chat.
“their gifts were very thoughtful too, how did nina know i like black licorice?”
“oh i let them know all your favorite things, that wasn’t alcohol.” nico shrugged as if it was no big deal.
you took a moment to process his answer, it wasn’t that weird for nico to know all of your favorite snacks and desserts, that��s what friends do…right?
+++
to: nico (hookup)
i have my sixth month checkup tomorrow at 10am, would you like to join?
from: nico (hookup)
yeah, do you wanna meet there or drive together?
to: nico (hookup)
could we drive together? 
from: nico (hookup)
of course, i’ll pick you up at 9:30, we’ll stop by mcdonalds for breakfast. i know you love their sausage muffins.
you hadn’t seen nico since the day of the gender reveal party and when you went into the city together to get canes. of course you stayed in contact, but it was hard with both of your work schedules that often collided. 
the next day nico was knocking on your door right at nine thirty in the morning, and you were still passed out. the pregnancy pillow and weighted blanket combo was not being your friend right now, though it was at 5am when the gremlin in your womb wouldn’t stop kicking. which she did for the first time earlier that day.
after about five minutes of nico knocking on your door with no response he began to fully panic, had you fallen down and couldn’t get up? were you dead in your bed? did you forget he was picking you up? so many things could’ve happened to you.
after a few moments of contemplating, nico decided that his only option was to break the door down. he began backing up a few steps and then running full force into your door, it took about seven tries for the door to fall to the ground.
the sound of the first impact of nico’s body was enough to wake you up. at the second impact you became aware of your surroundings, and at the third you thought someone was trying to break into your apartment.
you grabbed the closet weapon you could find, a meat pounder that you left on your kitchen counter last night, and got in position, ready to attack the person on the other side of the door.
once the door fell to the ground and the body fell on top of it, you got ready to swing.
“y/n!? are you alive!?”
“AHHH- nico!?” you froze your movements, the pounder hanging right above your head. “what are you doing here!?”
nico was still on the ground, also frozen as he tried to catch his breath. “ultrasound.”
you dropped your hands to your side as an ohhh played in your head. “i’m sorry i completely forgot. just give me a few moments and then we can leave.”
you turned around to enter your room before you froze and turned back around.
“i don’t have a front door…”
“i’ll text jack to come over and watch over the place and reattach it while we’re gone, the kid needs something to do this morning anyways.” nico said while pulling out his phone.
“does he know?”
“no, but he will…i’ve been meaning to ask you about telling the team anyways.”
“we can talk about it later , i need to get ready.”
you quickly got dressed, sporting a tight tank top, tight leggings, and a tight zip up. all tight because this baby had you gaining five pounds a minute. you huffed and puffed trying to get the tank top on. eventually you got it over your bump, but it was rising up and you were spilling out of it in too many places. deciding to just embrace the bummy look you threw on uggs, didn’t bother to put your contacts in, and left your hair in the rat's nest bun you’ve been wearing for the past five days since you were told to take a break from work by your boss, of course you had to faint in front of her.
“nico i need to get maternity clothes, i’m pretty sure these tanktop strings will snap if i raise my arm and don’t get me started on these leggings.”
“you’re huge…” 
“thanks nico, you’re really helping out right now.” you joked, but deep down you were upset. you don’t tell a pregnant woman she is huge, especially if it’s your baby. “let’s go, we can’t be late.”
“jack is almost here, babe.” the nickname slipped out before nico could even process what he was saying.
“uhm…”
“yo nico what’s up…where is y/n’s door.” jack said while walking into your apartment.
“you’re standing on it.” you spoke. jack’s eye’s wandered to you and then to your belly, and then they got really wide. “hi jacklyn.”
“oh shit.”
“we can talk about this later, but me and nico really have to go because we’re already running late.”
you and nico quickly walked out, the later telling jack that you had a toolbox under your sink and to “go crazy.” 
“no mcdonalds then huh?” nico asked as you got into his car.
“no, but i’ll be fine.”
+++
you weren’t fine.
you quickly got hangry and so did judith, nico seemed to be your punching for just about everything and even though he said he was fine, you could tell you hit home when you told him he needed to wax his eyebrows.
dr.swarn was completely fine with you guys being ten minutes late because she didn’t have anyone scheduled after you. the appointment went great except judith didn’t want to kick when nico felt your stomach, and of course nico’s hands were all dry and calloused which you hated feeling on your skin, and then after the ultrasound was over you guys rushed to mcdonalds because nico was determined to get you a damn sausage muffin, but of course you were two minutes past the cutoff for lunch and the teenager taking your order wouldn’t budge and you had to pretend like the cheeseburger didn’t come back up the second you got into the restroom. all you wanted to do is go home and be alone…and eat jalapeno poppers…and mozzarella sticks…
nico stopped at target to get what you wanted, and mac n cheese bites because he knew you’d love them.
you were pleasantly surprised when you arrived home to your door back on. luckily it had just separated itself from the hinges when nico tackled it to the ground, so it was an easy fix for jack.
once you stepped inside, nico quickly got to work, placing large portions of everything he bought in your airfryer. nico said it was crazy to buy a twenty size quart size air fryer and that you would never use it, but here he was being proven wrong.
you quickly changed out of the leggings and jacket, leaving the tank top on because you knew it would be just as much of a workout to get it off as it was to get it on and you threw on nico’s heart boxers he swears he wore as a joke, but you knew he picked them out at the store being one hundred percent serious.
“you two kids come sit down.” jack spoke loudly, as if he was your father.
“jack we are both older than you.” nico spoke sitting down in the spot next to you on your couch.
“doesn’t matter. you’re pregnant?”
you both nodded as jack pointed to you.
“-and you’re the father?”
you both nodded as jack pointed to nico.
“and you’re keeping it together as…”
“friends, just friends.”
“friends don’t have babies together.” jack gave you a skeptical look.
“they do now.” you stood up. “goodbye jack.”
+++
“i think it’s best if you two move in together, for both your safety y/n, and the babies.”
dr.swarn spoke before leaving you and nico in the room alone,
you were now seven months pregnant and you were constantly fainting, your boss had stopped allowing you to come into work and told you that you “needed rest” so you met her halfway and you now work from home.
nico was over one night after a game when he walked in on you passed out on the kitchen floor, but this time it wasn’t on purpose. he immediately began staying the night on your couch to make sure you were alright and as soon as you could he got you into dr.swarn’s office.
“i’m taking you home and we’re packing you up. i’ll text jack to come over with luke.” nico said as you exited the obgyn. 
“you know i can help right? judith is fine-”
“-but you’re not fine! you told dr.swarn that you’ve been fainting since even before you got pregnant, and i didn’t know. why didn’t you tell me about all this?” nico interrupted you, obviously upset.
“because it’s not important!” you snapped back. “it doesn’t affect judith in anyway, so i don’t understand you’re so worried.”
“it’s important because it affects you. i am worried about you, and i’m allowed to be. now there is no more arguments, you will be moving in with me and ending your lease at your current place.”
“nico-”
“no, that is final.”
+++
for the rest of the day you sat and watched tv while the two hughes and nico packed up your apartment until they had to pack your tv, which you insisted they did last.
“the truck is all loaded up, we’re gonna drive it over to nico’s and he is going to drive you in your car.” jack spoke as you approached where the truck was parked on the side of the street.
you nodded as nico helped you into the car. you hated admitting it, but you were much larger than you were expecting to be at this time in your pregnancy. 
+++
once you had made it to nico’s apartment you did the same thing you were doing before while the boys unpacked your stuff into the second bedroom, absolutely nothing.
you got up and waddled over to where the guys were all watching luke struggle to get the fitted sheet on your bed.
“can i please do something? anything?” you begged.
“yeah, go out and use my laptop to create a list of things you want as gifts at the baby shower, a registry because i know you want specific things for judith.” nico answered your begging.
“baby shower? i’m having a baby shower?” you had not been informed of this.
“yeah, all the guys on the team and their partners are gonna come, so are your friends and family, mine is coming too.” nico spoke like it was no big deal. 
nico had told the guys about three weeks ago because they saw the ultrasound in his locker. which in response had you getting multiple text messages from some of the girls all sounding very similar to “i thought y’all were just friends?” 
“when is this?” you asked, knowing you would need to get an outfit ready.
“next saturday, we have no game.” nico replied simply
“that’s in a week!” you shrieked, when you went maternity clothes shopping that did not involve any dresses.
“yeah, so you better get working on that list.”
+++
it only took you ten minutes to make the list because all you had to do was transfer it from a google doc, where it was already made but just titled as your shopping list, to a spreadsheet where people could claim a gift to give you, nico, and the baby.
it was a list with the basics. a stroller, breast pump, car seat (preferably one that went with the stroller), bed sheets, clothes, the essentials to keep a newborn alive, but you also had other things like decor for the nursery toys, and this bedside bassinet that your mother had been raving about since she saw it on facebook. you thanked god that your new room had a walk-in closet because that was going to be judith’s room. you weren’t even sure it was a closet because it was completely empty, no shelves or rods to hang anything on, it was more of a very small room, but it worked out better for you so you couldn’t complain.
you quickly went back to where the boys were, silently screaming as they made your bed completely wrong.
“please, oh please for the love of god, let me make my bed.” you begged nico, genuinely astonished that they had managed to put your pillows in the wrong order and put your comforter on inside out.
“i thought i told you to make your list?” nico said.
“i already finished. it was easy.” you said as you began stripping your bed of everything on it. “i just put down everything i already had on my shopping list…and then some because i know my friends are gonna wanna get me multiple things.”
you made sure to stare jack down as you put your comforter on the correct way before you placed your pillows in the correct order as well as the blankets at the end of your bed.
nico was quick to rush you back into the living room, turning on a movie for you to watch. you quickly got bored, which meant you quickly got hungry.
“nico!” you yelled out, needed your baby daddy to come to your rescue.
“yes honey?” nico approached where you were lying down, the two brothers laughing at their captain.
“i’m hungry.” you gave him a hopeful smile. “for taco bell…” “you’re order still the same as it was last time?” nico didn’t even hesitate to grab his shoes and keys. 
“yes, but if they have nacho fries please get those too.” you answered, nico had basically all of your fast food orders memorized by now.
“nico can i get some food too?” jack asked in a girly voice.
“please honey!” luke added.
“fuck off you two, go finish putting her clothes away.
+++
soon enough you had dragged nico out to go shopping for a dress for your baby shower. luke and jack had left shortly after nico arrived back home with your food and once you finished eating you got nico to drive you to the mall.
“ooh what about this one?” you pulled out a simple floral dress.
“it’s nice, but it’s only march. don’t you think it’ll be too cold for a tank top?” nico spoke, reminding you that it was still freezing cold in new jersey.
a few minutes later you approached where nico was sat in a chair with a dress you thought would be more appropriate. 
“what about this? i love the pink.” it was basically a dupe of the skims long sleeve dress, but you didn’t really care. “we’ll have to find a polo that matches the color while we’re out.”
nico approved of the dress so you were quick to go to the checkout and buy the dress, excited about the event that was going to happen, after you pulled nico into the closest department store and found a polo that was close enough to the shade of pink of your dress. 
“how are you gonna tell the media about…this whole thing?” you asked on the way home.
“what whole thing?” nico questioned, not exactly understanding what you meant.
“the fact that you knocked up some chick, who you are now living with to raise the baby, but you aren’t together with said chick.” you deadpanned, thinking of all the reactions you knew you were going to get from the hockey world. you could already see the “baby trapper” and “gold digger” comments and dms you would get.
“i didn’t knock up some chick, i knocked up my…friend?” 
“yeah go with that, it sounded real believable nico.” you said sarcastically.
“look i don’t really know how to tell the world that i got my hook up/best friend pregnant because, as jack as told me multiple times, my pull out game is weak.” you laughed and agreed with jack that nico did in fact have a weak pull out game, the evidence was currently kicking you. 
after a few moments of silence nico spoke up again. “alright what if we don’t mention our relationship at all. we just make an instagram post together of images of the ultrasounds and pics from the baby shower and tell everyone that we are expecting. we definitely won’t post the gender reveal video because you look like you were planning my death in it, but we just make the post and don’t comment on our relationship.”
you had to admit that it was a good idea, but you already knew that this would make everyone assume that you were dating. most people did already, which you understood. you wore playoff jackets with nico’s name and number, you attend team events and parties together, hell you went to the nhl awards with him and his family, and you are super close with his family, so you were never upset that people assumed your relationship status with nico because you did everything that the other girlfriends and wives did.
“i like that idea.”
+++
“alright this gift is from me and jack.” luke spoke as he handed you a gift.
you were a bit overwhelmed with the amount of people looking at you and just simply being in your home, but you knew that these people were here for you and at the end of the day you were getting a shit ton of gifts. 
so far every single thing you had put on your list was gifted to you and now it was just things people thought you or the baby would like.
“oh you guys…i love it!” it was a wood wall decal of judith’s name and it matched the pink polkadot of her sheets.
“there is more under it.” jack spoke up. 
you lifted up the large sign and saw a baby onesie in maize and blue that said “future wolverine.”
you and your friends started laughing at it. 
“you guys do know that i went to ohio state right?”
you were met with a disgusted stare by the brothers, more specifically the youngest, only causing you to laugh harder, not noticing nico’s pissed off expression, the one he had on his face all day.
+++
you continued to open up gifts and thank everyone, nico was one writing duty so he wrote down each gift and who it was from so you could send them thank you cards later in the week.
once presents were done it was photo time. you took lots with your family and nico’s family, as well as some with your friends, and of course you had to keep the tradition going with the girls from the team and took a picture of everyone pointing at your belly.
you only took a couple with nico, as he had been oddly distant all day.
after everyone left you and nico began moving everything into judith’s nursery and setting things up.
“thank you for setting that up, i had a lot of fun.” you spoke up, interrupting the awkward silence that was looming around you two.
nico nodded as he finished building the crib, you were given the simple task of putting all the wipes and diapers in the changing table’s cabinet.
“so once we’re done do you want to make the instagram post? or were you wanting to wait until after judith was born to post?” it was awkward, nico was just sitting there once the crib was all set up. “...nico?”
you were met with silence, nico was staring at you, yet not speaking.
“okay what the hell is up with you today? you’ve been weird all day, the only time you were even interacting with me was during pictures.” you had snapped, getting aggravated by the swiss’ behavior today.
“it’s nothing i just…” nico started speaking, but trailed off quickly.
“are you having second thoughts about all of this?” you whispered, scared to say it too loudly, scared that it is the truth. “second thoughts about judith?”
nico’s head instantly shook. “no, of course not.”
“then what’s wrong?”
“it’s nothing, i’m just not feeling the greatest and i didn’t want to risk you getting sick so i tried to keep my distance from you…” nico lied.
earlier, when the party was first starting, nico had overheard your conversation with your friends about how you couldn’t wait to give birth so you can start going out on dates and having meaningless hookups, saying that you missed being a twenty two year old who could do twenty two year old things. 
nico understood you had urges, hell he had his urges too. over the course of your pregnancy you and nico had the occasional…hang out, but ever since you moved it was happening once, sometimes twice, a day. he thought it meant something, he thought you guys were finally going somewhere, but it seemed like you just wanted to go back to how things were before, which would probably be impossible, you have a fucking kid togther.
nico had realized a year ago that he had feelings for you. the only reason he didn’t go full legal team on your ass when you told him you were pregnant was because of how desperately he had fallen for you.  
“oh, well you could’ve just told me that earlier, i was worried that i had done something.” you said before an awkward silence settled in the room. “well could you put all the sheets and clothes we got today in the washer? i’m gonna start on thank you notes in the living room.”
you shook off the tension as you exited the small room, nico gathering everything that needed to be washed in a small basket before going into the laundry room.
+++
“i don’t like that, why don’t we just wait to post until she is born to post everything, have the caption just be judith? i think that's better than a three hundred word rant that could be summarized by i knocked up my friend.” 
three weeks until you were due to pop and you and nico still hadn’t gone public with the pregnancy. of course the wag blogs found a way to get a hold of a picture of you and nico from earlier on in the pregnancy where people could only speculate whether or not you were with child or just had a large lunch and somehow it got out that you had moved in with nico, only furthering the rumors that had been going on for years that you and nico are more than just friends. 
“okay. let’s wait until she comes to post, but i don’t like that caption, let’s keep thinking.” nico replied, the devil’s PR team email staring back at him. “they want us to publicize it before someone else does it for us.”
“well it’s a good thing i’m chained to this bed until i go into labor.” you joked, you were so big you could barely sit up let alone walk anywhere. “no one is going to find out, don’t worry. it will all be okay.”
+++
two weeks later you had been having contractions all day, but dr.swarn said to not go to the hospital until your water had broke because these contractions could’ve been directly connected to stress. considering that your pregnancy was exposed three days ago, you would say that you were pretty stressed out.
one of the girls, not even thinking, had posted a photo dump on instagram to celebrate the devil’s season ending and included one from your baby shower. nico, you, and unborn judith right in the center of it all. it was quickly taken down, but the damage had already been done and now all of nico’s and your social medias were being flooded by comments. 
nico was currently at locker cleanout, and the meeting he had to have with the PR team to apologize for not listening to them and to set up a game plan to rescue him from whatever deepshit this was going to get him in was scheduled for right after.
you were laid down on the kitchen floor, your mother was somewhere in the living room timing your contractions. you were having a big contraction, holding onto the nearby chair leg for support, when you felt a gush of liquid puddle under you. 
“MOM!?” you yelled out, your water had just broke.
“sweetie!? what’s going on- OH LORD!” your mother scrambled to get you on your feet as you cried out in pain. “let me get the bag!” you had never seen your mom run so fast, you would’ve laughed at her nearly tripping if it wasn’t for the child threatening the slip out at any moment.
you were assisted into the backseat of your mother’s car as she drove to the hospital.
“if you could step on it, that would be great i’m kinda-” your sarcastic comment was cut off by another contraction. “nico…oh my god nico! i need to call him!”
you fished around the packed bag until you got a grip on your phone, dialing up nico as quickly as possible.
“i’m sorry but the number you reached is not available. please leave a message at the sound of the beep.”
you groaned loudly, speaking into the phone. 
“your child is currently in the process of being born, i’m at the hospital closest to the arena. please hurry.”
+++
you laid in the weirdly comfortable hospital bed, not yet fully dilated. it worked out in your favor because nico had yet to show up. you left a couple text messages and then a few more voicemails.
“i don’t know what the fuck your doing right now, but if judith is born before you get here your last name will not be on the birth certificate.” you said into the microphone, leaving the third voicemail of the day.
nico’s entire family was flying in next week and nico had made sure that he had all of next week off from any media or anything related to hockey so he could be there for the birth, but now judith was coming early and no one but your mother was here.
dr.swarn entered your hospital room again, she had arrived shortly after you because you had paged her the second you got into the car. “how are we doing momma?”
“not good, baby daddy is nowhere to be seen and i’m still not dilated enough to get this monster out of me.” you answered, setting your phone down beside you.
after a few moments dr.swarn smiled. “well i’m sorry about nico’s absence, but judith is ready to come out. you’re ready to push.”
+++
you don’t remember much, the epidural had kicked in. 
you remember holding onto your mom’s hand so hard that she yelped in pain at one point.
you remember cursing nico for not only doing this to you, but not being there for you.
you remember crying, a lot, and you remember judith crying a lot too.
you remember holding judith for the first time. both of your tears stopped for just a moment as you had skin on skin contact.
you whimpered as they took her away for cleaning, but soon she was wrapped up and you were able to hold her again. 
you remember the sound of footsteps and a thick swiss accent begging to be let into the room, continuously yelling that he was the father. your mother was quick to go into the hall and defend nico from the nurses saying he couldn’t go into the room, and as soon as nico saw you holding judith he began crying. 
“y/n i am so so sorry, i was-”
“where the hell were you!? i just had to give birth to our daughter without the father there!” you scolded the man.
“i put my phone at the bottom of my bag during locker cleanout and didn’t even think to take it out before my meeting with management. i got here as fast as i could.” nico had to catch his breath while he spoke.
“i was all alone…” you teared up, all of your emotions catching up to you again.
“i know. i know baby and i’m so sorry.” nico said, coming to your side. “can i hold her?”
you were too distracted by nico calling you baby, well more specifically by the feeling in your stomach, to answer with words. you just nodded and handed judith over. “be careful, and make sure to support her head.”
you smiled at the sight of nico holding judith, tears in his eyes, quickly taking a picture.
“were you serious about my name not being on the birth certificate?”
+++
once everything had settled down and you and nico were finally given some alone time in the hospital room you began making calls.
your mom had already messaged your families group chat, informing them of judith’s birth and sending pictures, so now you just had to call nico’s family. first was his mother, you had wanted to call her before you went into labor but it was around midnight for her and you didn’t want to wake her up.
she was so happy to hear from you, and you had never heard such an excited scream in your life when you turned the camera onto where judith was currently sleeping in your arms, nico having moved to lay behind you in the bed, his chest being your pillow.
“oh you have to call nina next, she has been so excited to become an aunt!”
that’s exactly what you two did.
facetime nina was fun, she gave you some much needed comic relief and she didn’t make any comments on yours and nico’s relationship…while he was in the room.
the second nico stepped out of the room nina was quick to ask when the wedding was.
“never gonna happen. i don’t like nico like that, and he doesn’t like me like that.” you said while putting judith back in that plastic jail they call a crib. “we’re here to talk about my gorgeous daughter who looks a little too much like nico for my liking.”
“ouch.” 
your head whipped around to see nico standing at the door. “your back early.” you were hoping he didn’t hear what you had said earlier. lately nico had been acting insanely weird everytime someone brought up your relationship with one another.
“the nurse was just outside, she’s gonna go finish the final paperwork and we’ll probably be out of here in the next hour.” nico said before turning back around. “i’m gonna go help out with the discharge papers.”
once he left you let out a groan. “nina why is your brother acting so weird?”
“what’s up with him?” she asked, curiously.
“ever since the baby shower he has just been…off. i don’t even know how to explain it.” you  started off, beginning to pace around the room. “he is so distant, and really out of it. i would think it might just be with the upsetting ending of the season, but this has been going on since before the playoffs. he keeps saying that he is sick and doesn’t want to expose me to germs, but i live with him and i haven’t even heard him sneeze from allergies.”
“do you think, and i hate to ask this, that he is having regrets about…everything?” 
you felt tears fill your eyes at her question. “yeah, i do. i asked him, and he denied it, but i can’t think of any other reason why he would distance himself from me and from judith.”
the lack of response from your friend on the phone was enough to make you start crying.
“i have my essentials packed up and my mom has a lawyer on speed dial just in case something happens…” you felt horrible having to admit this, especially to his sister. “i don’t want the lawyers, it’s my moms doing.” you felt guilty for what having a lawyer would be implying. 
“-i’m not judging you. just make sure nico doesn’t find out, i have a feeling he won’t be a fan of you even having a bag packed.” nina cut you off. “look i have to go, just keep me updated.”
you assured her you would before saying your goodbyes.
+++
“hey you just have to sign the discharge papers and the birth certificate, then we can leave.” nico said, entering the hospital room you had been in for the past couple of hours.
it had been around twenty minutes since you said goodbye to nina, deciding to finish phone calls tomorrow and instead spend your time crying while holding your crying newborn, best way to bond right?
“okay.” you sniffled. “could you put judith in her carseat? i’m gonna change.”
bond right?
“okay.” you sniffled. “could you put judith in her carseat? i’m gonna change.”
nico nodded and picked judith up from the hospital’s crib, holding her close to his chest and staring at her in awe. he couldn’t believe that this precious little girl was his.
“i’m always going to love and protect you, no matter what. your mother too. someday we’ll be a happy family, the three of us, hopeful gannon will join us sometime soon…” nico trailed off. “daddy loves you and he loves mommy too, you’re the two most important women in my life now, don’t you ever forget that…your mommy does a lot.” 
nico couldn’t finish his peptalk, or whatever one would call the conversation with his daughter, because you had stepped out of the bathroom changed and ready to go. “are you okay?” it was obvious that you were crying, you don’t know why you were even trying to hid it. 
“i’m fine, just emotional…just gave birth ya know.” you tried to laugh it off.
nico didn’t believe it. “we’ll talk when we get home.” 
+++
“why have you been acting so weird-”
“i overheard what you said-”
you and nico spoke at the same time, nico gesturing for you to go first.
“you overheard!?” you were convinced you were breaking a sweat from how panicked you had become in an instant. “look nico, the lawyer was my mother’s idea a-and i haven’t even actually talked to them yet, my mother just has them on retainer.”
“wait, what!?” nico stared at you with a look that scared you. “i was talking about what you said at your baby shower. you have a lawyer!? do you have all your things packed too so you’re ready to leave me and take judith with you!?” your silence only made nico angrier. “oh my god you do have your shit packed.”
“j-just the essentials…” you stuttered out.
“yeah because that makes a difference.” nico had distanced himself from you. “i cannot believe this.”
“i only did that stuff because for the past month it's seemed like the last thing you wanted was to be in mine and judith’s life!” your loud voices woke judith up, her loud wails only making the room more tense. you picked her up and tried to soothe her as you spoke to nico. “i’m only gonna ask you one more time nico, do you regret being with me and deciding to be in judith’s life?” 
“no. i do not regret it y/n.” nico spoke sternly.
“then why the hell are you treating us this way?” 
“because i am in love with you.”
your eyes widened in shock and you nearly lost your grip on judith from the whiplash that seemed to go through your body.
“you…what!?” 
it was essentially a stare down between the two of you, it was so uncomfortable in the room that even judith shut her mouth. 
“i have for a year now, probably longer, a-and i thought that judith would finally be my way into your heart. i thought that me being there for you, and for our daughter, would make you love me too.” nico’s tone of voice was one of a kicked puppy. 
“what are you doing?” you asked, not pleased with what he was throwing onto you. “why are you telling me this?” 
“i just needed you to know.” nico whispered his response, not expecting that reaction.
“so you’ve been in love with me for a year now?” nico nodded at your question. “so how does that add up to you treating me like some gold digging whore who got pregnant on purpose for the past month?” 
“i’m not-” nico let out a heavy sigh. “at your baby shower you said you couldn’t wait for everything to get back to how it was before the pregnancy.”
“yeah, so?”
“so!? you’ve basically been counting down the days until you’re able to fuck someone else, while i’ve been doing everything in my power to prove myself to you that i am worthy of being more than just the guy you fuck when no one else is available.” nico grew angry, if this was a cartoon steam would be coming out of his ears.
“i didn’t ask for you to do that nico! i was happy with how things were before judith, is it so wrong to want that back?” you were equally as angry. who was he to make you feel guilty about not being in love with him?
“yes it is! you are a mother now y/n, you are not allowed to be irresponsible anymore. you have to take care of two lives now-”
“are you not going to be helping me!?” you interrupted nico.
“when i can, yes i will, but i have a job that keeps me away a lot.” 
you rolled your eyes at his words. “you are not allowed to dictate my love life just because you knocked me up.”
you didn’t know if you should be thankful or agitated that judith decided to start crying at that moment, but either way you started your slight bouncing movements back up to try and settle my daughter, as odd as it was to use that term in a real scenario, and tried to find those parental instincts everyone was always talking about.
“she’s probably hungry.”
“i didn’t ask you…but thank you i will try that.”
+++
the first night with judith was rough. as much as nico wanted to, he couldn’t leave you alone and retreat off to the hughes’, both because if his mother found out, and she would, he might as well get his obituary ready in advance and he just could not handle the torture the brothers would put him through.
it was like your daughter had a sixth sense for when you were just about to fall asleep, choosing those exact moments to cry out for something. you never knew what she wanted, always going through the same order of “milk, diaper change, pacifier, cuddles, burping, scenery change, and clothing change” until one of them worked. 
nico slept on the couch, it was close enough to your room where if judith began to cry he would hear it and wake up. he was going to stay in your room with you and judith, but after the blowup of him confessing his feelings and you borderline rejecting him things it got a bit awkward. still now, almost twenty four hours later you and nico hadn’t had a proper conversation let alone spoken about what had happened. 
you were on the phone with nina for a while, then your mother, then nina and your mother, both of them giving you their advice but following it up with “just listen to your heart.”, so it was all canceled out in your mind. 
you turned to your newborn, who was staring at you from her little bed next to yours. “judith what am i supposed to do? your daddy, the one with the funny voice, is so amazing and sweet. he treats me like a princess, so why am i struggling so much to figure out what i want with him?” 
judith stared at you with those large brown eyes, a small look of adoration on her face. 
“i love you.” you whispered to her. “-and i love your father too.” 
you sat up in bed, eyes widening at your revelation. you love nico. 
“oh judith, thank you for listening to your mommy!”
you hopped out of bed, rushing into the living room. “nico! nico! nico! nic-”
“what!? what's wrong!? is judith alright!?” nico basically jumped off of the couch, worried that something had happened.
“she’s fine, everything is fine…well not everything it’s just.” you took a moment to look at nico, the lighting was horrible yet he still looked amazing. “i love you too nico.”
there was a silence that followed, it wasn’t awkward or filled with tension, just a calm silence. 
you blinked and then suddenly nico’s lips were on yours. 
the sound of judith’s cries separated your lips and caused you both to race to your bedroom.
spoiler alert: nothing was wrong with judith, she was just crying to cry. 
nico’s arms were wrapped around you and were holding you into his chest as you both laughed. 
“so what now? are we dating? getting married?” you asked, leaning your head against nico’s shoulder. 
“as much as i would love to get married right now, we’ll start with dating…so will you be my girlfriend?” nico asked, mumbling against your head and giving light kisses every now and then.
“yes, i will be your girlfriend.”
“yes!” 
you laughed at his response, judith held in both of your arms. “let’s go to bed, she’s finally asleep.”
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nicohischeir and y/nonfilm
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nicohischier me, my girlfriend, and our beautiful babygirl. welcome to the world judith.
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jackhughes god father mode activated😎
y/nonfilm …who said you were the god father?
ninahischier best day ever!! i got a niece and a sister 🩷🩷
njdevils baby hischier alert‼️
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note: i 100% HATE this ending (the whole thing actually) it’s so rushed and just bleh, but i have literally been working on this for 71 days. SEVENTY ONE DAYS. college has been kicking my ass lately so i haven’t been very focused on writing anything. but i hope y’all still like this PLEASE DON’T LET IT FLOP i’ll cry. okay love y’all babes BYEEEE!!!
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mrkified · 5 months ago
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ONE NIGHT ONLY — 9. life360 doesn’t gatekeep
synopsis — three years since your falling out with lee donghyuck he has suddenly transfered to your college in hopes to make it big with his friends in his band. unfortunately for you, your unresolved friendship started causing problems between you and the people around you, especially since your best friend is his ex. so — why have you found yourself in his room with a raging hangover?
a/n; IM SO SORRY FOR ANOTHER WRITTEN PART
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TAGS; @j2upiters @aerivrs @haesluvr @hyuck-me @tywritesstuff @aek1ra @ourbeautifulaffair @222brainrot @bugcattie @nosungluv @manooffline @amrqxz @haechansbbg @odxrilove
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YOU SLOWED DOWN YOUR CAR AS YOU TURNED INTO THE PARKING LOT.
the arcade your friends decided to go to was called ‘pete’s paradise’. it was slightly small but jam packed with different rows filled with a variety of games. your friends always loved to go there after yangyang got off work to play air hockey. anton always complained that karina was too good for the group and never wanted to go against her because he knew he would lose. when you walked up to the entrance to pete’s haechan and jisung were standing by the doors waiting for you to arrive. you said your hello’s to the two of them entered the building.
you immediately spotted your friends by the dance dance revolution machine, jaemin and giselle were both playing while anton was bickering with yangyang and karina.
“well it’s not my fault you were acting like we haven’t seen each other for ten years” anton shrugged.
“it’s called an expression you idiot” karina rolled her eyes. “your brain just too small to figure out context clues” she turned away from anton and noticed you three at the door.
“yn! you’re here!” she ran over and gave you a hug. the rest of the group followed after when they noticed she said your name.
“i see you followed our advice and brought jisung! just a little surprise to see haechan too” giselle spoke up, as it was your turn to give her a hug next.
“um yeah.. we didn’t want to exclude him i hope that’s okay” you were quite nervous about giselle and haechan in the same room but hopefully she would stay true to her word and not be too bothered with you two.
after awhile things tended to get less awkward and everyone was having fun — anton was playing whack-a-mole with jisung, yangyang was with jaemin and giselle and they were playing some racing game, and that left karina with you as haechan went to the bathroom. you took the time spent with her to tell her about how you’ve been feeling so you could finally get advice from a third party.
“haechan has a crush on me. he told me a few days ago and i don’t know how to feel about it. i mean i had a crush on him in high school but it was too late, he was already with giselle. now i feel like i shouldn’t do anything about it because you know how heartbroken he left her and i don’t want to make her upset or uncomfortable” you were fidgeting with your fingers when you looked at her as she was trying to piece together a response.
“well you can’t control someone you like. i know you don’t want to hurt giselle but i think you should go for it. they broke up almost four years ago, plus she has a really nice thing going on with jaemin right now. she did say not to date him and as much as i don’t want secrets in the group, you should date him” she was confirming the only real way you had to go about this — a secret relationship.
“he’s taking me on a date later after we leave”
“what about jake? you didn’t break up that long ago, i know your feelings for haechan are genuine but you still got hurt recently” her voice was filled with concern.
“i am definitely hurt but i think him leaving me for yuna made me feel like there wasn’t even a point for me to even be upset, he was distant even before we broke up there really isn’t any surprises” karina looked at you like she was giving you her approval and that’s all you needed. you would talk to giselle on your own soon but first you had to put your relationship with donghyuck first.
while you were having your talk with karina, giselle was also having a conversation with yangyang.
“i feel a little upset with them being together if i’m being honest, but i know i should probably get over it” she gave a slight smile as she knew that she couldn’t block out what was happening between you two. “i know they’ve been best friends for years and now that they’ve rekindled it i shouldn’t feel this way, but i just feel a lot of the repressed emotions from before i guess”
“and your feelings are valid you know,” yangyang took a slight pause. “he was your first real relationship, your first true love. it would only make sense it hurts to see him”
“i just don’t want to ruin this for yn. she’s my best friend and i don’t want to hurt her because i ‘forbid’ her from associating someone she spent so many years with”
“just give it time — for now just focus on the fashion show and then give it some more thought after” yangyang squeezed her hand as he got up and walked with her back over to where jaemin was playing skee-ball.
for the next 2 hours everyone spent time rotating the games until it was the time to go their separate ways. you said goodbye to everyone until it was time to finally leave with haechan.
“you ready?” haechan took your hand and guided you to your car.
“are you ready to be a passenger princess?”
“i’m always ready to be your passenger princess you don’t even need to ask” he got into the car and showed you where he wanted to take you — a small shopping district not too far away from where you were.
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iammissingautumn · 2 years ago
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genuine question, in the kindest way possible: why do you like south park? i truly don’t get what the appeal is, especially in a sense of wanting to make fan content for it. i understand that it can be funny to watch sometimes, and i get when people like it casually, but i am continually confused when i see people making fan art and fanfics and intense in depth meta posts about characters and characterization because it’s like. a joke show? it’s all a joke. it’s all satire and inappropriate/sometimes genuinely over the line humor. i don’t understand why there are so many people who seem to resonate with it in such a way, especially because as far as i can tell most of the fandom seems to be very young people - teenagers and young adults. again, i don’t ask this in a mean spirited way or to judge or shame, i just am genuinely baffled every time i see south park content you share and i wanted to ask… what’s up with that? what’s the appeal, for you? why do you think people are so into it in this fandom way? do you think that the fandom is just very divorced from the content itself?
Oooo thank you so much lovely follower. This is an amazing ask. And if you’d want the answer I’ll give!!! And there’s a TL;DR at the end of this :>
Why do (you) so many people like South Park?
(C.W. for south park typical stuff, mentions of abuse and s/a in many forms and serious topics.)
1. What’s the appeal for you?
I got into the South Park fandom at the age of probably ten or so. Eight years ago. How did I get into it? Uhhhh I watched the series rarely as a younger kid. What made me want to get into fandom? To tell the truth it was Stick of Truth. That was South Park’s first video game where you are put into the town and play along side the kid. South Park was the first fictional series I ever got into. Before that I had been a youtube shipper (Septiplier). And then I saw South Park. To be fair, I saw Kenny. Early memories of South Park is fanfiction and pinterest art and playing hours on hours of Stick of Truth, and later the next game.
What did I see in Kenny McCormick? He was a poor kid, who died everyday, with parents who fought physically and verbally. He was the fourth wheel in a best friends/obsession dynamic of his close friends. Pretend this isn’t a comedy. Pretend this isn’t some silly show. It’s a boy who can barely have enough money to eat. He had a younger sister he was willing to sacrifice anything for. And an older brother who never said much without a slur to his words. Without saying too much about my life on main I had a lot of reasons to identify with that. This is a house that many people can identify with, drunks as parents and kids who have to take care of themselves. On top of this he’s Princess Kenny :) Get’s treated as a girl in a roleplaying context and loves it. She’s a great princess. My interest in Kenny then went to Bunny (Ship of Kenny McCormick and Butters Stotch).
What is there to see in Butters Stotch? He’s a boy being dragged into sexist, racist, and homophobic talk. We quite literally throughout the series see him become more and more mean. How does a nine year old boy get dragged through those things? His parents are incredibly abusive, often grounding him for things he didn’t do and finding any excuse to blame anything for. He believes he’s at fault for everything he’s in trouble for. The only friend he eventually gains is a boy who uses him for schemes and tried to kill him at least once. The other person he considers to be a friend doesn’t speak or lead. He finds someone who sticks with him and isn’t a hypocrite and sticks to him no matter the pain he’s put through. He also want made for conflict and enjoys femininity. This will be talked more about later, but I assume you can make some assumptions as to why a ten year old could like the stuff shown here. Then again the next list will be why I like it as well. But Kenny and Butters were my start. They’re on of the most popular ships in fandom. So there’s a lot of content.
2. Why is this a popular fandom?
It’s like. Have you ever been neurodivergent? Have you ever been gay? Have you ever been trans? Have you ever been abused? Have you grown up in a simple U.S. town?Have you ever accidentally become codepdent to your childhood friend as a child? Have you ever been born into a situation that hurts you for years but you’re a child you don’t know what to do? Have you ever been a child and all the adults are so stupid and they’re supposed to be protecting you?
Have you ever been all of those things or some of those things and wondered. Holy Fuck. How am I going to handle this all? I hope I don’t need to explain how or why some people would feel these things and how they would use South Park to express these feelings. (Relatability.)
(Age.) A big criticism I’ve heard is. Oh no. They’re Ageing Up These Characters To Have Sex. It’s a very weird assumption and very strange to assume that people would only care about themes of childhood, being a son, or growing up if it’s about sex. Aging up the characters often has to do with wanting to give them maturity and time to learn. You have access to kids still forming their brains, you have access to 50 year old adults who are still growing and dealing with their current problems. High schoolers going to teen parties for the first time and drinking and smoking. College kids going to parties for the first time drinking and smoking making steps to join their profession and figuring out what they want from live and having the freedom of life or being trapped by family expectations.
Infinite scenarios. The amazing thing about South Park is you have at least ten characters to make whatever drama you want with at a time. You can make an ensemble piece of friend groups full of years of love and hate or a focus on one characters inner turmoil. You can make them into fucked up adults with complicated feelings, a gay man who’s never accepted himself sees his childhood best friend and Understands. The kid being drugged secretly by his parents dies of overdose and now everyone has to deal with that and the feelings towards the person. It’s winter and there’s too many holes in kenny’s house so he asks to stay over at someone else’s by knocking on a window and sneaking in. On top of this for many seasons one of South Park’s things is they would make fun of specific movie concepts that have been run into the ground by putting the kids in it. Losing Edge, Stanley’s Cup, and Up the Down Steroid are great examples of this.
People love to take the absurd seriously. I don’t think I can explain how people who see something silly and take it seriously do it. If you don’t see the appeal that’s really fair. But when Kenny Dies plays and we see Kyle Stan and Eric deal with death in their own ways. We see their differences highlighted. As we watch The Passion of the Jew we see this internalized anti antisemitism, that many people who have the same thing or something similar like internalized racism, homophobia, transphobia, ablism, etc. see reflected on the screen in this surprisingly real way.
A lot of content. There are 26 years of seasons in this show. That’s a lot of content, but genuinely a lot of people don’t watch even half that shit. Majority of the time I’ve spent being invested in South Park I had only seen a few dozen episodes. There are two full videos games with extra content and a phone game. A movie as well. A lot of content you can pick and choose from! A lot of small moments to hang on to. (I.e. Good Times With Weapons Butters get his eye hurt, fandom draws him with a scar more often then not. Eric got Kenny’s eye as a transplant after Kenny died one time. Kyle is said to have the same nose as his mom; hooked.) these build the fandom, but everyone has always embraced those who reject and those who accept canon. There’s so many different things to sink ur teeth into, including serious AU’s of the canonical fantasy and superhero games the characters play together.
But once again I’ll harp on this. I think what brings people to this show is seeing damaged things and giving them the chance to heal. Or giving them things to make their damage a bit easier. Or maybe damaging them more. Standard exploring relationships and feelings. But on top of this we see character who have been sexually assaulted, groomed, abused, neglected. While also the show gives very liberal takes and knows how fucked up these situations are. That’s apart of the comedy (Tsst. Where we see Liane Cartman take away the chance for Eric Cartman to become more respectable and less bigoted and everything because she wants someone to hang out with her.). There’s always something enthralling about seeing yourself on the big screen, and seeing my friends right there too etc. (Relatability, again.)
Simple designs. A child could make the cardboard cutouts that we see the characters as. That’s motivating! What’s also motivating? Giving these characters with specific color schemes a full face body and wardrobe of clothes ! Oh so that means I can make my favorite superhero team Coon and Friends all hanging out together? So that means I can draw something about Kenny dying? So I can make them play dsi’s together? There’s a lot of one off concepts we get that are very cool and some people love to reimagine them in their own style. Others love to make the setting more fantastical like Princess Kenny in the rose garden during the Black Friday Trilogy. You can make them anything!
Sand box! We have set up friend groups, conflicts from twenty years ago, and a mayor of the township! We have the entire map laid out in front of us and more from every episode’s location that hasn’t been included. We have the local coffee shop and the local movie theater. We have a whole city! We have canonical neighbors and stores and everything! Where would you like to start? We have it all.
Taking things “Seriously”. Most importantly, South Park wants to be take seriously. SP doesn’t work without being able to take it seriously. The comedy in Passion of the Jew doesn’t work unless you sympathize with Kyle. I laughed at the obliviousness of the adults as Cartman formed his group and then a pit grew in my stomach as I saw Kyle and them about to crash. The comedy in World Wide Record Concert doesn’t work if you don’t know that Mr Garrison feels bad for a very dumb reason !!!! But that episode is genuinely one of the funniest to me. South Park did not make it a character trait that Mr Garrison is gay for all those early seasons just for us to not notice. And more importantly he feels like a very very ignorant gay man in those seasons, but he feels genuinely gay. As Kenny Dies it asks you to take this seriously, and we watch in Coon Vs. Coon & Friends and are asked for it to be taken seriously as Kenny describes the many deaths he’s faced. This show quickly shows how absurdist and crazy it is in most if not all episodes it has yet it still cares to ask you to take things seriously, to sympathize, empathize with these characters. It tells you to laugh at Kenny’s deaths and then it has the audacity to tell you he remembers Every Single One and is reborn every time, and that Cartman always knows and they never talk about it. They never mention it more then once. They lull us into personal moments and then never bring it up again. The fandom is built around these one off moments, these things the creators didn’t think too much about. These characters have such strong personalities and back bones that have existed for YEARS. Stuff set up and shown in the first five seasons makes sense to the characters of today. The character consistency goes rlly hard for a 25 year old show that only stops itself for exploring character because they know they’re there to be funny and not serious. It’s crazy and amazing and we want the serious shit!
History. South Park history is crazy, what’s ever crazier? Fandom history. The shows history doesn’t matter too much (except that time Matt and Trey went to The Oscars for sp while on LSD) but the fandom history is legendary. The development of fandom, the fandom blorbo of the time, the Stan and Wendy baby guy. It’s really neat. We have a steep history with artists that have come and gone in a very unique way because of how tumblr’s algorithm is set up. South Park’s fandom existed before most popular social media sites. And while this allows you to put the character in Any decade it also lets you see how old some of those ff.net fics are. The fanart on tumblr can easily be a decade old if you look at the right blog. A deactivated user behind it. Ships that have come and gone, we’ve been here this whole time !!!! I love hearing about different sites issues and problems. And also the beloved stuff that has happened here. Some people weren’t here before Creek was canon, some people came in with a canonical gay couple amongst the kids as just an average background thing.
So those are some reasons. The most important ones that I think most south park fan in the fandom. will list at least one of when being asked Why. I value all of these things heavily. You also meet some really great people with mostly solid opinions ! It’s great ! Genuinely a really understanding and accepting place with unique stories from anyone you meet.
3. Do you think that the fandom is divorced from the canonical content?
Off the rip I would say no. But it’s complicated. To those who have seen all or most of the show I’d say; We’re pretty connected. I think the majority of us are just smart enough to understand that Cartman is a bad person on purpose. A lot of this has to do with he’s something the creators use. He’s an archetype of the worst person and is the only character imo that gets pulled ooc in order to do What The Plot Needs. But majority of the fandom is gonna give Kyle curly hair, green eyes and he’ll love to study with some side sports interest. We have a lot of continuity in many ways.
That being said there’s MANY people who have seen Five episodes and read the wiki and maybe play the game(s?). And they treat the show the same as those who have seen it more. Those who have not seen the show might be a bit more outspoken about how it’s Bad or Wrong when they haven’t seen it and I usually don’t trust those people. Hence why I’m watching the entire show rn on my own, to get my own opinion. Those people who haven’t seen shit are also probably connected mainly to a duo or one character. Popular examples of this are Creek (Craig x Tweek) and Bunny (Kenny x Butters). There’s non watchers in the Style (Stan Marsh x Kyle Broflovski) and Kyman (Cartman x Kyle) community but less so from what I’ve seen.
But we’re looking at this show in a different genre. Many of us act like we’re creating CW Shows except Better. Many of us lean into drama and tragedy. Others are in it for the sillies. Majority of people know what’s bad in this show, some people are sometimes so hurt or misguided that they think Cartman is the only evil and never want to see him. Other times ppl are just uncomfortable with him (Like I’ve spent the majority of my time here being). There’s a scale! I think it’s important to realize what is wrong with the show in your own way, and I think the show gets demonized for its effects on main stream media and boys who couldn’t grow a spine for themselves so took Cartman’s personality. It’s pretty apparent that Matt and Trey are very liberal they just thought “making fun” of everyone “equally” was right which got some bad apples. No one likes season 9 episode 1. Not a soul. Tbh most of the drama doesn’t relate to bigotry, though enough does that it matters. And if you aren’t interested in exploring how bigotry effects ppl I’m not sure why you would be interested in South Park.
Like yeah Matt and Trey haven’t thought about Marjorine more than once, but everyone saw a boy being accepted and cared for and enjoying himself seen as a girl more than ever before. And Matt and Trey aren’t gonna give these kids real mental illnesses when we see the symptoms clear as day (price of making characters “unique”). We’re playing a different game then they are, so yeah we’re disconnected in some ways. But we’re very connected in others. We don’t let all 25 seasons go to waste.
And what has my opinion been from watching the show so far? Well I’m on season 11 and so far it’s not as bad as I expected. I agree with a lot of their messages and the stuff that’s obviously just. terrible isn’t as common as I thought it would be? Again, s9 e1 is the worst of it, and you phrased it really well when saying it’s mainly inappropriate humor that often goes over the line. They’re very liberal though, I mean they introduce a gay character in the first episode and in the 90’s teach a kid gay is chill. There are episodes I dislike or just get bored by, but most of what I’ve gotten through which is getting closer to half of the show runs from decent to surprisingly well made (pick any s8 ep tbh. oops all bangers). Mattrey aren’t me, and I’m here to develop the characters, they’re there to develop a comedy. we are not the same but we appreciate each other even tho we probably squint and think the other is more in the wrong then ourselves. But we enjoy each other occasionally.
EDIT: I meant to put this originally but not everyone here is a young adult. I’ve seen 11 year old fans I’ve seen 50 year old fans. we have a lot of diversity in stuff like that. I think young adults had a wave of coming into the fandom because creek became canon which gave the show credit for showing how good it can be at times. Every one of my south park friends are at least two years older then me. That being said I joined a discord that I hadn’t realized was for minors and saw the swath of young ages we get. a lot of us have a decade between each other, but even more of us are in that 17-25 range. I think it’s just more common for young adults to get into it since we have the freedom to watch whatever we want and it’s a household name some may have been restricted to. Then again I joined this when I was 10 as well so like. i may be a bit warped. either way this shows rlly has smth for everyone.
Oh wait! Oh no!!! TL;DR: South Park is a show that’s important to me and others for a lot of reasons. Nothing butters me up like seeing people in broken worlds be able to put it together again in the future, or to be torn apart idk it depends. Other reasons to like the show are: Relatability, they can be literally any age, Infinite scenarios, People love to take the absurd seriously, A lot of content, Relatability; again, simple designs, the setting is a sandbox, creators kinda want us to take this seriously, and a lot of fandom history! And probably more. We’re not that disconnected from the series itself but everyone is pretty aware how problematic it is and many disconnect entirely from the series. Other choose to embrace it to Fix Them. Ppl love to do a lot.
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randomnameless · 9 months ago
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Reverse uno card : Jugdral edition
2014 : "yay, i can't wait for a Judgral remake, with updated graphics!!!"
2024 : "gods please no remake"
What happened in ten years to make me dread the remake I would have sold my soul for back in the days?
Well... IS's policies and new writing, mainly.
While I was joking about "Genealogy of the Holy Self Insert" in 2015, I still had faith in eventual Jugdral remakes. Sure, we were in the big Fateswakening era where the only things I could frown at IS were the "writings" worshipping self inserts (Ryoma being jealous of Corn's talents, when Corn was like, 5?) - but I still had hope for a more "serious" FE, and I first I was very delighted by FE15 - no self insert, a more "serious" setting, no hyperbolic time chambers to try to explain in watsonian words why second gens exist, etc...
But there was still something ringing dead wrong with FE15, which I only noticed thanks to FE16 and its years of discourse - at one point, IS's writing went in a certain direction that makes it impossible, imo, for us to have a "correct" Jugdral remake, as long as IS still follows this direction.
I'm not talking about uwufest - even if it is part of the larger problem - but back in FE15, I remember being really pissed at the schizophrenia of the plot : saying one thing and the inverse at the same time.
The narration reminds us of the classic Kaga lesson : whatever madness exists in dragon/gods, a greater madness/evil lurks in the heart of men.
And yet, we have the Hero (who was so cajoled by the plot that, at times, you have to wonder if Alm wasn't the devs's self insert, he's lavished with praises almost as extensively as Ike was!) saying nonsense - without being contradicted by characters at all (or when Celica does it, she admits later she's wrong) - like Duma being responsible, mainly, for the events that transpired in Valentia and, novelty that wouldn't have been in the original game since the character was made for the remake, Berkut's fall and madness.
By that point in the game, the player saw that Berkut hunts low class people for what he sees and perceives as sport, is the textbook classicist asshat noble, but has a lot of pression on his shoulders due to his role of being the heir of the Empire, pression that isn't alleviated at all by his Uncle who mocks him and refuses to give him a third chance... to fight against a person said uncle very well knows cannot be defeated by Berkut himself, especially as said Uncle pretended to "care" for him, only to pit him against his trueborn son whom he names his heir just before dying.
Point is : Berkut feels betrayed by Rudy and goes mad - because of this betrayal : Rudolph named him heir when he fully knew Alm was alive and was the true heir he always wanted, in Berkut's eyes, no matter what he did, it wouldn't have mattered to Rudolph since Rudolph planned on giving Alm his throne since day 1 - of course, without telling him a thing and making him believe he would one day become Emperor.
Is it Duma's fault that Berkut went off the deep-end in Part 4? Because Rudolph's shit gambit involved playing with the life of his nephew and crush it in a bid to have Alm unify the continent against Duma ? Or... it's just Rudolph being an asshole, not curbing the worst of his nephew tendencies (and in a larger part, of Rigel in general) ?
Now, Rinea. She too, is called one of Duma's victims, and yet, who pushed her in Duma's magic pyre that turns women in witches? Duma himself?
No.
Berkut, who already, when pissed tells her "silence woman" pushes his fiancée and love of his life in a pyre to sacrifice her, because in his grief and rage (caused by Rudy!!!) Rinea is only a pawn to be sacrificed to gain more power to kill Alm. Sure sure, Berkut is redeemed in death and Rinea - in a classic Kaga style writing that wasn't here made by Kaga since this plot is basically new so where the fuck does this sexism come from - forgives him and they both die and ascend to another plane of existence.
The point is, despite what Alm says, Berkut and Rinea's fates weren't caused by Duma's degeneration - but by Rudolph and Berkut's own actions.
Heck, I remember when I was sort of live-blogging my run back then, Desaix's greed and lust for power wasn't fueled by Mila's apathy : it wasn't Mila who burnt Celica's house and tried to cook Conrad, it was Desaix, and why Desaix did it? Because he wanted to become king. That's it, and that's all.
So why FE15 - while giving the Kaga message - still tries its hardest to pin the blame of everything "wrong that happened" on... dragon gods, refusing to acknowledge the own responsibilities of humans in their suffering?
I think we had that lunar dialogue at the end of FE15 (or in part 4?) where Clive (i think?) tells Alm without gods giving their blessings, people in Valentia will starve, and Alm saying that may be so, but ultimately Valentia will survive and work hard through those upcoming harsh times to demonstrate how humans, when they work together, can achieve things without needing to rely on Gods - basically, King Alm tells his people to starve now because Humanity will come out stronger afterwards, since they will have learnt to grow their own food without needing magic dragon blessings to make the ground fertile.
... yeah. That's definitely going to work.
FE15 took the Kaga lesson to try to hammer some "humanity fuck yeah!" Square JRPG message and it completely messed up what FE2 tried to say.
(I confess, retconning Duma'n'Mila in dragon gods like Naga from Archanea was a big part in this shitstorm - that was also retconned to explain Grima from FE13! - i mean Duma'n'Mila have to die because they're degenerating, but they didn't get the memo from Gotoh living overseas that degeneration can be stopped by using dragonstones, instead of being a fatality that must be dealt with death...)
Humans cannot be held responsible for what they did, everything BaD that happened is somehow due to the influence of dragon-gods : even if it means "suffering" and sacrificing a part of your population, this choice is a good one to get rid of the obviously nefarious influence of dragon-gods.
So, is it so surprising that FE16 - the most popular title in the franchise uwu - went in the same direction?
Even if it tried to mitigate the "gods BaD" spiel because the avatar - Billy - is the Goddess reborn, the thing is the CoS - aka the dragon - is blamed for humanity's mistakes through each route (AM dodges the question completely) and all routes end up with the dragon going away (her skull being cracked open, or she retires, or she dies off-screen, or she dies because the plot commands so unless you want, as the player, to shag her).
"But in VW, Claude reconsiders his initial stance!"
And yet, it is only off-screen that he seemingly becomes aware that Fodlan people are not superpals with Almyra because Almyra raids them, not because Rhea told them Almyrans are BaD, that's why he tries to negotiate - off-screen and post-game - some sort of ceasefire between the two parties, or at least make it so Almyra doesn't try to raid Fodlan every Thursday for their weekly dick measuring contest.
No matter the ending, Rhea retires and in the worst support, muses on her failings for "having turned a blind eye" to Fodlan and its people in her quest to resurrect Sothis : aka, Rhea (and the game, since Billy doesn't tell her anything) believes Fodlan's state is due to her inaction and not, you know, the action of the humans who lived in the continent and ruined it of their own volition.
Which is also what fuels the endless discourse about what kind of power she has - or not : Rhea BaD for using her power, but also BaD for not using it and letting humans to their own devices.
Supreme Leader's memetastic line from the trailers ring even more true : in Fodlan, Crusts are to blame for everything. For Adrestian being attracted to young women because otherwise without crests they surely wouldn't seek to bed a 12 years old Doro, for Miklan trying to murder his younger brother (and not because, at least FE16 wise, Miklan is a terrible person who is very jealous and not afraid to kill even a child to get what he feels like he deserves), and for people basically killing their wives/letting their daughters die to get a "suitable" heir.
Humanity/Humans can get a pass for doing horrible things (Berkut burning his fiancée alive) because those horrible things can sort of be linked to "dragon-gods", and so, the blame exclusively lays at their feet.
I am always reminded of that Obi-Wan reply to Anakin when Ani accuses him of having turned Padmé "against" him, Obi-Wan basically tells him he brought this upon himself.
Now, what would Obi-Wan tell a non-recruited Doro who blames the Goddess for the War, the leader she is actually protecting, started?
Billy is no Obi-Wan, so we are left in this limbo where characters are telling you everything wrong that happens in Fodlan is due to "dragon blood" aka their existence and presence, even dragons who blame themselves for "being blind" - but not once do we have the Kaga message, or an Obi-Wan reminding people that they have to take responsability for their own actions : Hanneman will blame crests (dragons) for having killed his sister, but not the man who forced her (marital abuse?) to bear him many heirs until one was "good enough" for him.
Claude blames dragons for creating, both literal and metaphorical walls between Fodlan and Almyra - and it's only in his best ending, after the game credits and off-screen that he seems to realise that those walls were built by Almyrans raiders.
"enough about the fodlan rant, what about jugdral?"
Jugdral was sort of unique for not having a giant eldritch abomination as a boss, unlike the later FE8, we never fight Loptyr in his "original" form, Loptyr is fought through his host, Julius.
And I love Jugdral because unlike Fodlan, the local evil death cult might stage a few skirmishes and manipulations here and there, but Jugdral people are... asses, in general.
Elliot will mount an army to seduce Raquie while Eldie is away - and it's not because Manfroy told him to seduce her, no, Elliot does it from his own will.
Reptor'n'Langobalt'n'Andrei rebel against Kurth and Azmur? Sure, Arvis is pulling some of their strings, but Reptor'n'Langobalt are ambitious, even without Manfroy whispering anything.
Arvis pulls out his gambit... with Manfroy's help (and blackmail?), but also because he genuinely thinks he can sacrifice lives to make HIS world a reality because HE has great ideas about how the world should be and will torch anyone who opposes him.
F!Lewyn, as much as I dislike the character, reminds the cast that while Travant's actions might seem justified to him and to the Thracian people, he is still a man who assaulted a bunch of randoms + non-combattants in a desert, amushed them and slaughtered them : no matter his reasons and how justified he was, Travant is still a criminal to Jugdral people.
In Jugdral, people do things and have to take responsability for it - Oldvis basically dies after losing everything he had - by Seliph's hand (and with his own participation!!) because Oldvis has to take responsability for what he did in Barhara. Ditto for Travant, who accepts to die if it means the peninsula will be united (tfw his son doesn't understand what he meant !).
Dragon blood and Dragon people are never blamed for the shitty state Jugdral is in in the 1st or even 2nd gen, if Danan turned Isaach in giant brothel, it's not Julius-Loptyr who asked him to do so, nor Manfroy.
At least, that was the case for the pre FE15/FEH/FE16 Jugdral.
Now...
While I want to blame FE16 for this shift, I know the roots are more ancient (FE15?), IS's writing seems to favour a certain narrative, aka people having sad and or complicated fates because of their brands and Holy Blood - when the ONLY case of having a fate tied to Holy Blood was the Curse of the Gae Bolg, aka a sibling quarrel between Dain and Noba that will eventually "curse" Noba descendants, but through the events of the game we know that curse is more like a prophecy : Quan doesn't die because he had Noba Holy Blood, Quan dies because Travant kills him in Yied. Why Travant kills him? FE5 reveals Quan and his forefathers are basically letting Thracians starve and refuse to "give" them arable lands, or even export food.
Now, did Travant kill Quan because Quan had major Noba Holy Blood, or because Quan (and his forefather)'s policies made Thracians so desperate that their king feels like he has to resort to murder to "save" his people?
The issue is more complicated than "he has Noba HB so I had to kill him".
Come FEH and we had, in 2018 (before FE16 but after FE15) this :
My blood has granted me gifts, it's true. I have expended every effort to be worthy of those gifts. That same blood makes it impossible for me to live a peaceful life. That's a lesson I learned from my mother...
Now, even if I was dissecting and hc'ing and posting about Saias a lot for 5 years, I fully understand Saias is a character with maybe 20 lines in FE5, so you can only dissect the script and theorise and read between invisible lines to get something about the character.
But this?
It might be a reference to Cowen's last words who basically tells him his job is to "pass on" his Fjalar HB, and how having major Fjalar HB was the reason why Manfroy tried to kill him when he was younger (his mother Aida died to protect him).
And yet, FEH here seems to imply Aida died because Saias had Fjalar HB, and not, y'know, died because Manfroy wanted to kill him due to this HB.
It wasn't HB who killed Aida, but Manfroy!
FE5 never reveals why - but if Fjalar HB was the reason why Manfroy targeted Saias, then why the fuck wasn't Oldvis iced earlier, since he has the same brand and blood?
In a way, Saias blaming HB here as the "reason" why his mother died and why he cannot live a "peaceful life" is similar to a Leif who would blame Quan'n'Ethlyn for being the reason why Travant and the Empire were after his life : what is to blame, their "blood" that makes people want to kill them, or the fuckers who want to kill them?
Granted those lines from FEH completely miss the point of Saias as a character - FE5!wise Saias is in a class that cannot use fire magic, when his HB automatically gives him the highest rank in fire magic, and he is funnily enough the only character who "retreats" in his death quote -> Saias doesn't "expend" every effort to be worthy of HB, he hides and doesn't use the abilities given by said HB!
We can say, mkay, this was just FEH trying to fit their "gods and their influence BaD" narrative and missing the real culprits, aka humans themselves (Manfroy is one!) - from FE15 - in Jugdral, even if it meant retconning a character no one cares about.
But then, last year, we had Galzus' FB :
You speak of the blood of the Sword Saint Od. Perhaps. Is that the reason you have been set on a path of violence and bloodshed?
Nyx says Galzus' "curse" isn't tied to his HB, but it's basically his regret at not having been able to save his daughter.
So far, it's completely the inverse of what I decried, so this was a good FB, right?
:)
There is no doubt that the blood within you compels you to lead a cruel life. However, the loss of your daughter was the wedge that split your life into pieces and let the curse in.
Damn it Nyx, why???
Why Galzus's brand "compels him" to lead a cruel life - when it was just established that Galzus fell to despair and became a mercenary who kills for money after the loss of his daughter?
Before losing Mareeta, Galzus, at least per this FB, wasn't killing people right and left as the merc he now is (or was in FE5).
Now, much like Saias...
Why was Galzus left to roam around Jugdral with a toddler to begin with?
I had a daughter. When my wife died, I brought my daughter with me as I traveled around Jugdral.
This FB establishes that Galzus settled with Mareeta's biomom for a while, but when she died he "traveled around". Why Galzus couldn't return "home" and had to "travel around"?
You know the Ribaut family was devastated by our own House Isaach.
Timeline wise : Ribaut is already demolished during the prologue of FE4, and Mareeta is no older than Leif himself, which means she was born after Galzus' grandfather and Ayra's brother, aka, his uncle, beheaded his dad and demolished his kingdom. Galzus, in exile, had Mareeta, and then had to "travel around" Jugdral because his home had already been demolished by "House Isaach" -
Note how Ayra talks about the Ribaut (i prefer rivough but meh) family when she talks about her very own sister - Galzus' mother. Jugdral family trees being what they are, Shanan, Larcei, Scatach and Galzus are actually cousins, Galzus is Ayra's own nephew, just like Shanan!
Anyways, in FE4, the reason given behind Ribaut's destruction is their attack on Darna, so the Isaachian royals killed them.
Galzus' "cruel life" wasn't compelled by his HB, Galzus' life took a turn for the worst when his Uncle and Grandpa knocked at his door and slaughtered his entire family, destroying their Kingdom.
So why FEH tried to fit his backstory in some sort of "dragon blood is to blame" Fodlan narrative?? They at least acknowledge the bad blood (lel) between Isaach's royal family and Ribaut's, hell, Ayra even wants to say Mareeta is a part of Isaach's royal family in her FB with her son, so it's not to whitewash the Isaachian royal family because their units are more popular and would sell more...
Contrary to Saias, Galzus's writing and his FB seem to have been made by people who cared and didn't completely ignore what the character was about so... why this emphasis on his HB ??
Are we bound in post FE16 releases to have, at least with the current writing team, the excuse of "dragon blood is to blame" ? Galzus cannot blame the Isaachian Royal Family or even the slavers for his (and his daugher's!) fate, but he can blame his HB, aka, a non-entity?
Will HB be now used as a "responsibility free" card, because the fate a character suffers or their actions are only tied to said HB? Arvis will get a pass because his HB compelled him to save the world (tfw Victor prefered to "seduce" women instead), Lewyn will be lightly chided by his mom instead of receiving the beatdown he has in FE4 because his HB now makes him unable to stay in place? Ditto for Ced, Karin won't chew him out for abandoning his mother and sister because his HB compelled him to travel around, so in the end, dragons are to blame for him abandoning his sister and mother?
That's what I'm the most afraid in future Jugdral remakes, that had humans characters with human flaws in a crapsack/shitty verse, the insertion in a future remake of a very Squenix "but aksuhally gods and church bad" when Jugdral is the pinnacle of "the world sucks because people living in this world suck". No need for secret sects manipulating everything in the shadows like FE16's Agarthans, Chagall is a horrible person without needing Manfroy's help, and Hilda will not say "Holy Blood is to blame" when she tortures Tailte to death.
When Tailte is caught and Hilda'd, it's because she participated (or even commited) in parricide, and because her camp/army lost the battle. She doesn't die because of her HB, she dies because Hilda kills her, most likely, for having killed Reptor (Hilda wants to avenge her "father" when fought, i'm pretty sure she means her father in law aka Reptor!).
As befits a game called "Genealogy of the Holy War", people aren't targeted because of their HB, but they are targeted because they are part of a genealogy - see the Leif comparison earlier on : Leif is hunted because he is Quan's son, even if he doesn't have Noba major blood. Seliph is hunted because he is Siggy'n'Deedee's son, not because of his Baldo HB.
In FE4, Manfroy tells Julius Arvis was a thorn at their side because "Fjalar's ways" ran too strong in him - implying he had some moral fiber that would make him oppose the return of Loptyr (but those same "ways" didn't prevent him from torching his own brother and conquering the world...) - I will have to check the translation and og script, but was Saias targeted because he had Fjalar HB, or because he could develop the same moral fiber Arvis does in his later years, or just, because he is Arvis's son? Cowen seems to suggest it is FB, but we know Fjalar HB cannot harm Loptyr so... what was the true reason?
Blaming dragon-gods reduces the complexity of Jugdral's setting and characters - and in a post FEH world where tropes win character contests and sell a lot of alts if they are flanderised enough + a post FE15/16 world where characters, to be likeable enough, have to ditch their responsibilities or at least have the plot elude them to pin them instead on vague and non-important (gacha wise) gods, what is going to happen to Jugdral?
Fanfics are fanfics and people are free to write whatever they want - but I wonder (especially after Nopes and the plethora of 'golden endings' fics that ended up with the CoS as the big bad lol) if fics where Mareeta and Ced blaming their HB for their various hardships is going to become the new canon...
I seriously hope it will never, and it if happens then...
I guess I'll still yell at cloud and nerd about the 1990s versions of those games, completely ignoring the new releases (save for maybe updated artwork).
Tl;Dr : FEH makes me afraid Judgral remakes will borrow the "humanity fuck yeah" page from FE15 and FE16 and put the blame of Jugdral's shitty situation from Jugdralians to... Holy Blood and "dragon-gods", completely missing and rewritting the point of those games. IS already said "fig" to Kaga once or thrice, but this might become the most contentious "fig" they ever give him if they decided to write a Jugdral remake this way.
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songmingisthighs · 2 years ago
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[9.14] baby!xikers (ft. teacher!sunmi)
⇀ truly, they are interesting children
⇁ @legohwas YOU WHO GASLIT ME THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT
⇁ disclaimer : the author is not forcing any ideas or form of relationship between irl characters. this fic is specifically for entertainment purposes
a/n : finally a standalone baby!xikers fic !!! and i know i used the term baby when i meant kindergarteners, but to me it sounds more adorable and that's still a baby. and i just had to put sunmi here bc wtf they're... adorable together ?? it's giving ateez but shy and still appearance conscious and ofc a whole new meaning to crackheadassery <3 but lookie @flowerboykun babies !!!!!
wc : 1.9 k
genre : fluff, baby!au
buy me coffee ?
After school hours, as parents tend to work longer hours or be busy until a little later, the school provides daycare until as late as 7 pm. Ten close-knitted children found themselves herded into a big classroom by their teachers because their parents were not going to be able to pick them up until later that day. As children of celebrities, this is not a rare occurrence nor is it a daily occurrence for them as schedules tend to change depending on their parents' availabilities. They had no problem with this, however, as they know what cool jobs their parents do for a living and they love spending time together. So even for Yechan who was merely 3 years old, they all were able to adapt to being in daycare rather quickly.
Right off the bat, after they all placed their belongings like school bags and the teachers helped the babies (Yechan and a struggling Yujun and Hunter) store their items in the cubbies, the children were assisted to have their lunch as per the program. The ten children really liked having their lunch at school as they got to eat together and spent their time with other school staff like the lunch ladies and even the groundskeeper when they spend time outside after lunch. Once back indoors after an hour of playing, the children grouped themselves with some others in a manner of activities that they shared their interests in. Sumin, Hunter, and Hyunwoo spent time colouring and drawing in one corner, Junmin, Seeun, Jinsik, and Yujun were doing physical activities like dancing and playing games, while Minjae, Junghoon, and baby Yechan are playing legos (Minjae and Junghoon are, Yechan was just holding onto one piece and staring at the two older boys in awe).
The teachers had yet to have any problems with the boys, as they were in fact the least of their teachers' problems. Compared to glue eaters, serial wet willy givers, booger wipers, and swing pushers, the boys' noise and occasional messiness when they're playing are not even a little bit of a problem. At most, the teachers would simply have to separate one child from another and even then, the same children would find themselves crawling back to each other, playing as if nothing had happened not ten minutes later. So days like this, days where the children sit around and play whatever it is that they wanna play together with their friends are not rare but still not underappreciated.
One of the more senior teachers, Sunmi, was tasked to handle the daycare that day which she usually does so happily, but this was the first time she had to handle the group. Nevertheless, she got into the classroom with a big smile and enthusiasm. "Hi, everyone!" she greeted after closing the door of the classroom. Hearing the familiar voice, Yechan snapped his head towards Sunmi and immediately dropped the Lego piece he was holding before bracing himself and making a run for to woman by the door, surprising Junghoon who had a hand forward, waiting for Yechan to hand him a piece of lego block. The little giggly baby was thankfully caught by Sunmi who propped him on her hip as soon as he was in her arms, used to him acting like that from the times she had taken care of his baby class. Yechan was followed by Yujun and Hunter who looked up at her with big eyes, "Are you gonna play with us, miss?" Yujun asked with a tilt of his head to which Sunmi answered with an enthusiastic nod of her head, "yes! I'm here to play and accompany you all until your parents get here! Now, who wants to tell me what they've been doing?"
Soon enough, Sunmi went around the room asking the boys what they have been doing until she got there (with Yechan stuck on her side be it in her arms, hugging her leg, or just tailing behind quietly). Other than Yechan whom she already had the pleasure of interacting with beforehand, Sunmi was able to know what each boy was like and who they were close with. Of course, the most questionable one in her opinion was Junghoon because he barely reacted to her and when asked, he said that he was making a ship that can help him survive another great flood. It was a simple flat surface. But she was grateful to see that Hyunwoo seemed to understand him well (maybe even enabled him). She also saw how Junmin was able to care for his younger friends while doing his own thing like telling Seeun to be careful as he almost kicked his brother Sumin in the face (and disproved how Sumin said "I can just kick him back"). The diversity of how the children played together was fun to see, no one was stuck on their phones and to Sunmi it was refreshing to see.
When she finished her rounds in the classroom, Sunmi noticed Minjae's work was slowly taking shape and she immediately realized what Minjae was trying to make. "Oh, lookie! Are you trying to make a castle, here, Minjae?" she asked as she crouched down, prompting Yechan to move around her and sat next to Minjae with eyes glimmering with interest. Minjae, not looking up from his creation, nodded quickly and confidently, "Yes, this is the princess's balcony," he pointed to the spot where he just finished. It was genuinely amazing to see such a young child be able to make an actual creation. Without thinking much, Sunmi pat Minjae's head and smiled gently, "I hope I can see the end result," as she wanted to show genuine interest and appreciation for what he was doing.
Time flew while she was on duty, spending time getting to know and interacting with the children. Soon enough, it was snack time for the children and Sunmi immediately took notice, not wanting the children to go hungry as they tend to use a lot of their energy. Sunmi clapped her hands to get the attention of the children. "Come on children, it's time for your snack!" she called out as she headed to the door to get the snack crates that would usually be placed by the door for the teachers to take. Knowing that the school usually gives out two crates, one for the snack and another for the milk, Jinsik, Sumin, and Hyunwoo jumped from their seats and rush to Sunmi's side to help her. Meanwhile, Junmin called his friends and got them ready in a line with the help of Yechan who just parrotted what Junmin said from the front of the line (as he was the tiniest and the most likely to create havoc in the back with Seeun or Junghoon). "Okay, Yechannie, can you help me give the milk away to your hyungs?" Sunmi asked the little boy as she helped Hyunwoo and Jinsik pull the heavier milk crate all the way to where the line started while Sumin pushed the lighter sandwich crate until it hit the milk crate.
Yechan was already holding onto his carton of milk when Sunmi spoke to him, asking him to help give out the milk to his friends and he immediately looked between his milk carton, the milk crate, and his friends. "Uh... Uh..." he hesitated for a bit, looking confused which didn't go unnoticed by Sunmi who crouched in front of him, "What is it, Yechannie? Are the cartons too heavy for you?" She asked, genuinely concerned about him. Yechan simply shook his head and placed his milk carton aside, "No, Yechannie can," he stated determinedly before taking three cartons in his arms and began walking to his friends and telling them to take one from his arms and doing it all over again until all of them got their milk. Sunmi was happy to see that everyone was getting along and even helping her out. It wasn't until Yechan finished handing out the milk cartons and the boys finished getting their sandwiches that she noticed there was one of each left. "Who hasn't gotten their snacks?" she asked, stopping the boys as they were about to sit down in the middle together to share their food.
Sunmi suddenly felt a tug on her shirt and saw that Hunter was the one seeking her attention. "Miss, Minjae hyung is still playing," he said as he pointed to the eldest, still busy with his legos which had had some features added since the last time Sunmi went to check on him. While it was impressive, to say the least, Sunmi also knew that the boys needed to have their snacks on schedule so they would be used to having a regulated eating schedule. It seemed like the boy was completely oblivious to what everyone was doing, however, simply minding his own business with absolutely no care in the world. Even when the children are bustling around, running near him with their food and drink, Minjae didn't even bat an eye which made Sunmi worry.
"Minjae-ah," Sunmi called out to him which luckily he noticed and shifted his big eyes from his work to Sunmi, "Do you think you can join us here for a minute?" she asked as sweetly as she can, not wanting to upset the boy. Luckily for her, Minjae simply blinked and looked between her, his work, and his friends before he noticed that it was indeed snack time. So he nodded and paused his construction to approach Sunmi with small yet quick steps. "'m sorry miss, I was making the castle's courtyard," he said with lips pursing slightly and eyes glancing at her from his bangs. Of course, Sunmi couldn't fault him, he was just so excited about creating something and she did say she wanted to see the end result so maybe hearing that, he became more eager to finish to show her that he was able to deliver. Sunmi simply smiled and shook her head at him, scooting closer to where he was standing to pat him on the head, "Don't worry about it, okay? I'm just glad you're enjoying yourself and you're joining us for snacks." Minjae visibly beamed upon hearing that, a wide grin plagued the boy's face before he nodded and skipped along to where his other friends were.
Seeing the children getting along and being able to follow instructions well made Sunmi's chest swell with pride. Looking at them in their big circle, Sunmi realized that they were so close to each other and they love and cared for each other. Maybe that was what made her duty so easy to handle.
That was until a cry broke the happy bubble and Sunmi heard one of the children yell for her attention. "Miss Sunmi, Jinsik hyung poked his nose with the straw!" Yujun called out before taking a munch of his sandwich as the other children watched Jinsik hold his nose while crying. "Seeun pushed my milk!" Jinsik yelled, still crying. "No, I didn't!" Seeun defended with quivering lips and within no time, he too began crying from the accusation which caused his brother Sumin to whip his head and rushed over to tower over Jinsik and ask if he made his brother cry. This was met with Jinsik, who was still in pain, pushing Sumin away which made him stumble and bumped into Hyunwoo, causing him to accidentally splash some of his milk onto Junghoon who froze (or seem like he froze). Chaos ensued and the once-calm room turned into a state of dystopia.
Perhaps Sunmi spoke too soon.
taglist :
@kodzukein @phenomenalgirl9 @skzatzloveismonsterous @memorymonster @thesolarplanetarysystem @dreamlesswonder86 @maddiebabyxoxo @imababywolf @do-you-actually-care @marievllr-abg @ilsedingsx @wasteitonserendipity @bbymatz @noonaishere @honeyhwaaa @ateezourstars @yoonjunshi @yoongiigolden @camillelafaye @charreddonuts @jcngh0-hq @kpopnightingale @starryunho @atinct @mirror-juliet @hyuckilstan @jayb17 @kpoplover718 @haatohwa @x-bluee @erinaimeexx @blackb3ll @mingiholic @angelicyeo @vampcharxter @meowmeowminnie @marvelous-llama @kawennote09 @hongjoong-lovebot @ming-ki @stopeatread @spooo00oky
network :
@cultofdionysusnet @kflixnet
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alpaca-clouds · 2 years ago
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Revolution in the Media
The Mageseeker game is coming out in two days – and I kinda want to talk about it. About Sylas and about Demacia. Because holy fuck, I hate the Demacia storyline in League of Legends. Like, some of the other storylines have their faults (big faults at time, let’s face it, the entire Noxus thing is not that much better), but Demacia? Demacia will tell you: “Are Nazis really so much worse than the people fighting against them?”
And this is… sadly a problem that American media has in general. Especially during the last… ten or so years. And I want to talk about it.
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The Demacia Storyline
Other folks have talked about this before, but let me make this once again clear: The Demacian regime in League of Legends is fascist. Let’s face it. It is basically fascist. They have literal concentration camps, have an underclass, who are held in those concentration camps just for the way they have been born… And if we were going through Ecco’s “traits of ur-fascism” we would find a lot of the traits in Demacia one way or another.
In itself it would not be a problem. A lot of media does have fascist bad guys, but of course League of Legends does not have Demacia as the bad guys. Instead, well, we have several champions in the storyline, who can be played by the players of the main game. And who of course do not want to be reminded of “You are playing the bad guy”. So, all characters within the Demacia storyline are treated the same. Sylas is as good and as bad as Garen.
This is something we have seen especially in the entire Lux comic. Which so clearly shows Sylas as bad and manipulative and you should not side with him within the story, that so clearly says: “The only good side in this is neither.”
And just… No. For one: Sylas is the victim of the Demacian regime. A victim who managed to escape what is effectively a concentration camp. He is a rebel, who tries to bring the regime down. No, he is not as bad as the Demacians. Him killing the king and rebelling the way he is, is basically the same, as a Jew escaping a Nazi concentration camp and then going on to kill Hitler.
This is not a case of “good people on both sides”, but a case of “fascists on one side, those who fight them on the other”. There is no equivalence.
But of course this is not the first time – and probably not the last time – this happens in American media.
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The Daisy Fitzroy thing
Remember Bioshock Infinite? That third Bioshock game, that was quite different than the other two that had come before?
Now, let’s put it bluntly: Bioshock has always kinda suffered moral relativism. The old games basically go like: “Laissez-faire Objectivist Capitalism is bad, but the other alternatives are not that much better (if at all!)” Which is just blatantly wrong, though obviously it is just a very American way about depicting it, given that… well, we know how Americans cling to their “freedom economics” and it being the “only right economic system”. Because Freedom!
But then… Well, then came Bioshock Infinite. Instead of in Rapture, we play in Columbia. A religious pseudo-fascist place, with a regime that is build very much on the suppression of BI_POC, especially Black and Irish people, who are used as a servant class and outright slaves. Obviously with a lot of iconography mirroring the South under slavery and later Jim Crow.
In that game, we have a group of rebels, though. The Vox Populi. Rebels fighting against the system, which to the credit of the maker is shown to be unquestioningly bad. The rebels are under the lead of a Black woman named Daisy Fitzroy, who gets involved with the protagonist, by forcing him to get her weapons to fight the regime… But then comes the big twist, when Daisy Fitzroy tries to kill a kid of the oppressing class and your NPC companion Elizabeth kills Daisy Fitzroy in turn. After which you are going to fight the Vox Populi as much as the folks of the regime, with the only difference between the enemy types being the color schemes.
In that moment, when Daisy Fitzroy tries to kill the white kid, the game is taking your hand and pointing at her: “See, people fighting against white supremacy are just as bad as the white supremacists themselves! Don’t you agree?” Which is, of course… like a really bad conclusion to draw from it.
Because, let’s be very clear: Even if she had killed that child… Someone trying to free themselves from oppression through radical means will never be as bad as the oppressor, who did the same horrible acts without any reason other than “you look different, hence you are less human than me and I can treat you that way”.
But, of course, there is another screaming example of this…
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The MCU and the faulty status quo
Honestly, to me right now there is no bigger offender in this than the MCU and within the MCU there is no offender as bad as The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
Now, let me preface this with: Yes, as much as I love Black Panther, that movie very much is very much at fault for this, too. At fault for the entire: “Oh, yeah, the guy who wants to do something about systemic racism is as bad if not worse than systemic racism.” But at least that movie ended on a change to the faulty status quo. (A change, mind you, that was undone by later installments of the MCU because the MCU just cannot have the status quo change too much, obviously.) It also clearly came down on the side of “the thing the good guys fought for originally was real bad”, with T’Challa outright confronting his ancestors on it.
No such thing, however, happened in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which obviously features our main characters going up against first and foremost the Flagsmashers. And now lets be very clear: The Flagsmashers are anarchists! Which is very much on the very tailend of “wanting to change the status quo”. (Note: I am an anarchist.) Their reasoning is a good one, though. They say: “Yeah. The entire Snap made it that people could move without borders. That was good. Now we are displaced and the organization that is supposed to take care of our needs cares more about enriching themselves than making other lives livable.” Which is something that is actually shown to be right. We know they are right.
Now, for once, of course, the entire thing with them turning towards violence comes kinda out of nowhere and is not really set up. But… We also need to talk about how violence is a valid means of fighting an oppressive system. And this system is very much oppressive. Again: The series SHOWS US THAT IT IS! That people oppressed in this system die of neglect! The system, as it stands, is a form of oppressive violence. That it kills through neglect rather than through active means does not make the killings less horrible or less deadly.
Yet, the Flagsmashers all die in the end. All those, who were enriching themselves through the system get no narrative punishment, with Falcon (now Captain America) holding them a nice speech. And the literal fascist getting a last minute redemption arc.
And that is just… horrible. I cannot put it any other way. It is horrible. It is a horrible end for that story.
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The myth about the peaceful revolution
What all of this calls back upon is the myth about the peaceful revolution. The myth, that a peaceful revolution will be the only successful revolution and that violent revolutions are destined to fail and are – in fact – as bad the oppression they fight against. This, obviously, does completely ignore the fact that… most revolutions that were successful were either violent or had a violent revolutionary group cooperate with a peaceful revolutionary group. Just that again and again the violent groups will get erased from history.
The example most probably know about, is the Black Panthers, who served as an aligned group to MLK’s peaceful civil rights movement. Here, too, it often gets erased that the Black Panthers were closely aligned with MLK and were not a completely different group. Just as it is often erased from history, how the Black Panthers for example also helped feed and educate other underserved communities, including the poor white people.
We see the same again and again in the way we speak about history. A good example is decolonization (a process, mind you, that long has not ended). We kinda never go into how that happened. The usual narrative is: “Oh, yeah, western forces realized it was bad, so decolonialization happened.” Maybe we are talking about Ghandi, the peaceful revolutionary in India, and maybe we actually get told: “After WWII the western forces had no money left to uphold colonialism.” But, oh, what is that? No money left? But wasn’t one of the main things about colonialism that it was meant to extract value from the colonies? So should this not be a reason to hold up colonialism?
Yeah, no. Because here is the thing. In almost all colonies there were constant violent revolutions happening. And those had to be fought down with military power. Which was a costly endeavor. So costly, in fact, that in the end the colonies cost the western forces more money, than it brought them. But again, this gets erased from history. (Let’s face it, we do not speak about the ills of colonialism enough either way.)
But they (those who hold power) want us all to believe that it happened all through peaceful means. Because this way, we do believe that we, too, should rebel peacefully against the system that oppresses us and that destroys our environment. To put it frankly: They would not allow a form of protest, that actually worked.
And media? Well, media serves to uphold this myth as well. By telling us again and again that those rebelling and revolting through violent means are as bad, as those who uphold an oppressive and often directly or indirectly violent regime.
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We need to make better Media
Something I see this in as well, is the reception of media and the lack of understanding of tropes and storylines, that might put you into the shoes of violent revolutionaries, who end up harming some innocent bystanders as well – at times a lot of them. Heck, even those trying to change the system that has oppressed them in a way that they are no longer oppressed, without a care for others get often judged as harshly, if not harsher, than the actual oppressors.
My two main fandoms are kinda an example of this. Both Arcane and Castlevania has this issue.
In Arcane the main issue is, that we have an obvious example of oppression of the poor. Piltover oppresses Zaun. And while the series kinda shows this, it also asks us to be very much on the side of Zaun, given that from the main characters only Ekko is exclusively aligned with Zaun, while everyone else is either at least partly aligned with Piltover or a bad guy. And sure, we do see that under Silco the poor suffer even more because of how he pushes his drugs. But… Well, he originally was a revolutionary and while Vander has given up the revolution he is the one to fight for Zaun independence, but yet… He is very much the bad guy, other than all those other characters who uphold the oppression. Which is… Not good.
I talked about the issue in Castlevania once again. Isaac. Here the issue is not as much with how the series is written, because for once the series actually has a somewhat good and understanding take. But… fandom has the issue here. Now, Isaac has been enslaved before. He ran away, after which he again and again was attacked and assaulted for either the color of his skin (this is after all the time that the first Europeans came up with the idea that Black people are less human than white people) or his religion. Given that this was all he had ever known, he at some point decided that it was how humanity had been – and hence that humanity should be extinguished. Which, if you have just a droplet of empathy, is kind of understandable. Not right, mind you, but understandable. Yet, a lot of folks have a lot more empathy for either Dracula or Hector, who partook in the genocide as much as Isaac did, than they have for Isaac.
This really… Is just not a good look.
And of course, all of this we see again and again in real life. Not only from the fascists themselves, who will claim there were “good people on both sides”, but even from more left-leaning folks. When marginalized folks get angry with their oppressors, they quickly get labeled as “as bad” as the oppressors. See Tone Policing. As a trans person I have been told several times by people, who identify as “left leaning”, that I am as bad as JKR and her posy, because I say that folks who support Rowling and her conservative fantasy shit are not really leftist and are definitely not queer allies.
So, yeah. Really. Fuck this thinking. Threating oppressed people rising up as the same as the oppressors is just shitty. And I just wish media finally let go of this shitty trope.
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bbs-backlog-challenge · 2 months ago
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Fin or Bin: Final Fantasy VI (PR)
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The most common debate seems to be whether 6 or 7 is the best Final Fantasy. I think 7 typically wins the popular vote, but the older fans lean towards 6 more frequently. Another common debate is whether FF6 or Chrono Trigger is the best RPG on the SNES. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with two of the most beloved video games of all time, you can reasonably assume FF6 is probably pretty good.
I have in fact played this game before- its SNES iteration specifically, but that was 20 years ago and mostly framed around teenage boy discussions of whether Terra or Celes were the more attractive (Celes, obviously). Since it's been given a new lick of paint and an updated translation and I'm all grown up and have matured beyond such silly discussions, it definitely gets a place on the backlog.
I wonder if it's because the original already looked great, but of all the Pixel Remasters this one has wowed me the least. The OST is similarly fantastic but I don't know if the direction it was taken is correct- the original had a lot of electronic-sounding tracks in it, most notably the boss theme, which have been rendered with violins for the PR. It sounds great but it doesn't sound right, if that makes sense.
Six is by far the most gimmicky of the PRs, introducing a lot of extra Stuff that was dropped for later games. Things like pincer attacks and each character having to run away from battle individually only happened this one time (thank goodness, in the case of the latter), and I'm not sure why it was walked back on. Each character also has their own gimmicky way of operating, no two working quite the same way, and some are more worth putting up with than others. It's kinda funny that for most characters there's basically no point using the standard Attack command when their personal gimmick will do more damage for free. Edgar can Attack a single target for middling damage, or use a crossbow to attack every enemy on the field and deal approximately twice as much damage to each, for the low cost of buying the item once. Usually you have to put some effort into breaking the game, but FF6 does it for you!
Fin or Bin:
I do miss the communal aspect of playing through along with a friend whose every opinion is incorrect and needs arguing down. (And also, y'know, to talk about story beats with and stuff.) That is lacking from this playthrough, though that obviously isn't FF6PR's fault. This is the last one remaining of the first ten that I haven't played through in my adult years. Maybe once I've Finished it, I'll put together a tierlist. I'm sure that won't be controversial at all!
(Steam)
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fatfables · 3 months ago
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New Gainer Story!
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After killing his best friend's mother with a hot dog, Aaron Cosby starts to believe that he is an instrument of God. Seven years after that terrible event he and his best friend attend a "weight management" summer camp at which they are coerced into taking part in a catastrophic nativity play. Will his tragic past, and need to feed, have any bearing on the outcome of the play?
A Play for Aaron Cosby
"I am doomed to remember a fat boy with a wrecked asshole - not because of his asshole, or because he was the fattest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother’s death, but because he is the reason that I believe in Gaining; I am a Surplus because of Aaron Cosby."
The seventh summer since my mother’s death was the first summer that I spent at camp. It was early August ‘23 and the facility had just received an inspector from the state government. This was an unannounced visit brought about by the sudden and untimely death of a fellow camper, and the negative publicity that had entailed. As a seventeen year old I was unaware of this at the time, (years later I looked up her report online), but the inspector's conclusions were nowhere near as damning as everyone involved in the camp feared that they would be. It was this fear of public damnation, of being forced to be outed as gainers, forced to become something that we weren’t, that drove the decision, to publicly at least, give the camp an air of normalcy. It was deemed to be required, in order to improve public perception, that we engage in ‘normal’ summer camp activities. No one had any intention of doing anything sports related or active. That was the reasoning behind the play.
Aaron Cosby didn’t mean to kill my mother. It was an accident. I forgave him at the time and I forgive him now. He never believed it to be his fault either, but he rejected with disdain my interpretation of events as being somehow accidental. He was convinced to the bottom of his belly that it was an act of God. My mother’s death was preordained and he was the selected instrument. Aaron was a heavy child and an even heavier teen. The son of working class mining folk he was fed a hard-working labourers portion from the moment he moved onto solids. He loved his food and I loved him. That summer at camp I was a tubby teen of seventeen, but had nothing on Aaron, who I swear if you swung on a rope could demolish the Hoover Dam. He was a wrecking ball of gluttony. I was just your average young New England glutton from an upper middle class family. Whom, whilst they didn’t control portion sizes, purchased far too many of their groceries from a Whole Foods for me to have the same opportunity to swell my belly to the size of my remarkable working class best friend. His belly was all burgers, whereas mine was too many dips and breadsticks, though my Grandma did make a mean Boston Cream Pie. It fills my heart with sorrow to think that I will never again be able to give Aaron Cosby any cream pie.
The play was Counsellor Jake's idea and he would direct it. As campers we were hardly overjoyed at the prospect of amateur dramatics but knew that it was the least worst option if we really had to spend two hours a day doing something other than eating. The discussion of what play to put on didn’t take long as there was only one play that any of us, campers and counsellors alike, had even the slightest knowledge of. At least we had mostly all seen, if not previously been involved in, a production of the nativity. It was the height of summer and over ninety degrees out but no one seemed to be perturbed by this. Everyone just wanted to take the path of least resistance in order to get back to the dining hall as soon as possible.
My mother died when I was ten, at a little league game. Neither myself or Aaron really liked baseball and we were both pretty terrible at it, particularly Aaron. That’s why neither of us played. It was my brother’s team that we were watching. Too fat for childhood sports we sat on the bleachers gobbling down, hotdogs, popcorn, and cola, kindly purchased for us by my mother. Aaron was very fond of my mother, not only because she was in the habit of funding both of our seemingly endless appetites for snacks of the highly fattening kind, but also because she never judged our desires. Aaron, as boys do, often used to joke about how beautiful and curvy my mother was, and she was a beautiful young woman, however, this never really offended me as I always had the impression, even from that early age, that Aaron had desires for curves of another kind.
My mother was late arriving at the game and me and Aaron were sitting and snacking and joking when Aaron asked me if I believed that he could swallow a foot long wiener whole. I told him that I didn’t believe that it was possible. He agreed that it sounded improbable but that something from deep within his stomach was telling him that he had to try. He didn’t know why but he felt that it was his destiny to at least attempt it. Five foot long dogs were purchased, two for me to eat the normal, sensible way, and three for him to remove from the bun in an effort to achieve the seemingly impossible feat. He tossed the first long weiner into the air just as my mother appeared at the side of the field. She was looking up into the bleachers scanning for us. As the weiner descended down towards his greedy wide gob he closed his mouth slightly too soon, mistiming his bite. His front teeth cut the weiner in half. He half choked and began to chew the part of the sausage that was in his mouth. The top half landed in his lap. Much to his chagrin I quickly snapped it up and ate it. “Oi!” he said, “That was mine, you’ve got your own!” I told him that six inches of wiener was useless to him. He required the full foot long and nothing less. “I still wanted it, even if it wasn’t as satisfactory as I would have liked!” “I like eating,” he added pointlessly.
The flying wiener must have grabbed my mother’s attention and she cheerfully waved at us and turned to make her way up the steps. Aaron was ready for his second attempt but it went forebodingly wrong. I burped aggressively, after too large a swig of cola, causing him to startle and he accidentally let the dog slip from his grasp just as he was accelerating his tubby hand skywards. One end of the meat tube hit his chin before it started to tumble down towards the floor. I reached out with my podgy right arm and managed to catch it as it descended just below his knees. I once more took his sausage up to my lips and took a large bite. He snatched the rest of it from me and yelled; “No fair! You put me off!” before munching down the remainder of it himself, whilst looking at me with deeply disapproving eyes.
We were both too focused on the all important third and final attempt to notice that my mother had started to make her way in towards us from the end of our row. I watched my bloated out best friend intently as he gracefully swung his fat right arm upwards, it glided smoothly through the air like a beautifully fat angel. With a deft flick of the wrist he launched the weiner high up towards the heavens where it seemed to hang and rotate like a thick juicy catherine wheel. I felt my tummy rumble. I so wanted to eat that wiener as well. At precisely the same time as Aaron had released the wiener of death one of the players hit a homerun. The man sitting next to Aaron jumped up in excited celebration. We discovered later that it was his only slightly chunky son who had hit the fatal homer. Through the joy that he felt through his offspring's success he barged my mother over. She fell forwards towards us, twisting in the air. She landed front up across Aaron’s lap. She looked him directly in the eyes, and appeared to telepathically tell him that it was alright, before turning her face towards the sky and opening her mouth in order to breathe out in relief at the cushioned landing that Aaron’s swollen bellow and porky thighs had supplied her with. The cheap offal sock fell vertically down into her throat, passing her gag reflex, and causing her face to immediately turn blue. I sat there watching in awed amazement as my mother lay in my obese best friend’s lap choking to death on his footlong weiner.
Seven years later and the day of the play was upon us. Being naturally fat and lazy we had barely practiced for two minutes let alone two hours a day. Not that this bothered any of us, the whole thing was a public relations exercise that we just weren’t mature enough to comprehend the importance of. Aaron had at first wanted to play the baby Jesus, “It’s the easiest part,” he told me, explaining his reasoning. “All babies do is lie down and drink milk. I still do that anyway!” His protestations that he was perfect for the part fell on deaf ears. The part had already been selected for Camp Leader Shawn. Aaron had to settle for being the angel. It was his job to descend from heaven and proclaim the birth of our lord and saviour. He was rather taken with the idea of dressing up as a scantily clad angel but took umbrage with the fact that he now had to learn a single line; “Do not be afraid. This very day in David’s town your saviour was born - Christ the Lord!” It was a line he was destined to fuck up.
Counsellor Jake appeased Aaron by telling him how wonderful he would look in angel wings and that he’d personally selected him because he was the most beautiful and angelic looking boy at camp. He was also one of the heaviest, this fact either seemed to pass Jake by or just not concern him. It should have done. The other notable characters were of course Mary and Joseph, played by a femboy called Danni (it was an all boys camp so he/she/they was as good as that was going to get) and a bro-boy whose name I can no longer recall. All I do remember of him was that he consistently aired concerns that Danni was no virgin. At the time, my youthful liberal attitudes caused me to dislike him for this, as I couldn’t understand why such a thing would matter, or how he would know? Slutshaming was not ok and more than that I believed it to be irrelevant. The whole point of acting is to pretend to be someone that you’re not. Or so I thought. The only other campers in the cast were two gay lovers, Stefan and Oliver, who comprised the front and back half of the donkey, and myself, who was a fat little turtle dove. I think Jake created the part for me at Aaron’s bequest. The three wise men were played by three counsellors, the twins - Steve and Henry, and Jake himself, who clearly had too big an ego not to cast himself in his own production. We were all in costume and completely unready as the crowd of other campers and a few select parents of local attendees took their seats in order to form our audience.
Our summer nativity started badly and quickly descended downhill like a runaway garbage truck on fire. The she-male Mary was the first to enter the stage riding on top of the aforementioned donkey accompanied by her ever suffering husband Joseph. It was three o'clock in the afternoon on the hottest day of the year and the stage had been set up in it’s usual lakeside position, where there was no tree cover to provide even the slightest slither of shade and respite from the baking sun that was still raising the air temperature to over a hundred degrees. The mostly obese audience of a hundred and seventy sweating balls of young blubber mopped their brows and sucked on their already melted supersized slushies in a desperate bid to stay cool and prevent any weight loss due to the energy they were expending just by being there.
Stefan and Oliver, the front and rear ends of the donkey, felt like a Thanksgiving Turkey roasting in an oven. The donkey costume, rented from a local fancy dress store, had proven to be too small for the oversized gays. Especially for the rear end, Oliver, whose globular planet sized belly had torn open the sides of the donkey’s abdomen the first time that he attempted to bend over in it. As a solution a brown woollen blanket had been badly sewn onto the donkey’s under belly, that was really Oliver’s belly. It hung so low that it almost dragged along the floor as he plodded slowly onto the stage.
The delicately chubby not so virgin Mary had designed his own costume. He wore a short tight mini-skirt with nothing underneath that clung to his succulent thighs and which rode too high at the back exposing the lower half of his thick buttocks. If this wasn’t bad enough he had decided to ‘tuck it back’ meaning that he appeared to be sitting on a small squashed purple mushroom. His top half bore only a crop top exposing both his beautifully round pot belly and ‘erotic’ arrow tattoo on his lower back that’s only purpose was to point all potential visitors to his entrance. There was no need to dress Danni up to look pregnant, had her gender not been in question then there would have been no doubt that he was carrying. She had long straight black hair tied like Wednesday Adams and matching black eyeliner and nail polish on her bare toes and fingers. He wore a crown on her head, which in her own words was to, “Represent that Mary was the real Queen.” By comparison the 280 lb fifteen year old Joseph looked relatively normal in his tight 3XL boardshorts and Vans ‘Off the Wall’ t-shirt that allowed only an inch of underbelly to hang out. He smiled and made a metal sign at his friends on the front row.
Poor Oliver’s back pain was crippling him. His inflexible physique and unnatural deportment, plus the 220 lb virgin whore riding him, caused him to scream out in pain. He dropped to his knees causing ‘Mary’ to fall off onto the stage floor with a thud. Her mini-skirt lifted up and she ‘untucked’. As her dick flopped out for all to see, the young crowd began to laugh. When the arse end of the donkey ripped open due to Oliver’s low position and hence extended rear appendage they bayed with laughter. Oliver’s massively wide eighteen year old naked pearly white ass reflected the sunlight like a magnifying glass, temporarily blinding a portion of the audience who just happened to be sitting at the perfect angle in order to receive the full effect. 
“What the fuck!?” The virgin Mary cried as she tucked her cock back in between her cheeks.
“It’s fucking boiling in here!” The ass responded. “I feel like a pot roast!”
“Fuck him! Give us a donkey show!” An immature voice in the crowd called out. The voice received plenty of peer support.
“Uh oh, no babes. Y'all know that’s not my scene!” Mary shook her hips and wagged her finger like an expert drag queen as she delivered her second improvised line.
“Then have the donkey fuck you! You’d love a huge donkey dick!” The same voice called out.
“And that’s why I’ll never have you chicken!” Mary received rapturous applause for her sassy put down.
Joseph, clearly feeling upstaged, decided that it was his turn to speak. “Why the fuck you got no pants on Oliver?”
“I’m not Oliver. I’m Stefan! Oliver can’t speak right now, his mouth’s attached to my ass. And It’s like a hundred and eighty degrees in this fucking thing. We’re both naked. We had no choice!”
“Is there anyone is this fucking play that doesn’t like eating ass?” A different voice from the crowd asked to much hilarity.
Jake seemed to take that as a hint to move the plot forwards. He fed me an improvised line and pushed me up onto the stage. If I was to describe my own appearance I would describe it as a perfectly average 300 lb eighteen year old high school graduate with short black hair and a 42 inch waist. I think that I looked like any other normal New England kid apart from the fact that I had three ostrich feathers attached to each arm, one of those old school feather dusters sticking out of my ass (I was forced to wear only a jockstrap and actually grip the household cleaning item with my butt cheeks, I still deny to this day that it entered the forbidden zone). The only other part to my costume was a yellow plastic beak. My bare overhanging belly had been painted gray and as directed by Jake I did a little dance across the stage and gingerly waved my ass at the audience before turning around grabbing hold of my belly and lifting it up whilst proclaiming, “I’m a fat hungry turtle dove. Please don’t eat me. I think the baby is on the way.” The last phrase I delivered with a wink to my fellow actors. They didn’t take the hint.
“What?” Fat bro-dude Josep asked me.
“Yeah, what the fuck?” The virgin Mary said for the second time in the opening scene. 
“You’re not supposed to talk. You tryin’ to upstage me you fat little straight bitch!”
“JUST HAVE THE FUCKING BABY ALREADY!!” I bawled back at him.
This sign of verbal authority seemed to have a submissive effect on Danni who did as he was instructed. He climbed on top of the massive makeshift wooden manger full of hay and squatted so low that his dong hung out again. She started to breathe heavily and moan, faking the pain of childbirth. The groans got louder and faster and started to sound suspicious. This was when I noticed that there was more than one voice moaning. Some of the very audible moans were coming from the front end of the donkey. The donkey was still squatting on its hind legs with its monstrously fat ass hanging out, only now its front legs had begun to tremble. It also appeared to be growing some sort of stick shaped tumorous growth just below its rather oddly spherically shaped neck. Mary, busy pretending to give birth, did her best to ignore it, although the audience was finding it very hard to do so.
With one final push the baby Jesus appeared from his hiding place below the hay. He slowly sat upright and cursed about the heat and lack of alcoholic liquids that he had apparently requested while in utero. The foul mouthed messiah was born wrapped in two plain white king size quilt covers and weighed a strapping 570 lbs. 
The funniest thing that I can recall about this was that Mary was just as fat after giving birth to the elephantine baby Jesus as she was before she did. After giving birth Danni immediately sat down on the edge of the manger and started eating a Twix that he must have hidden who knows where. Clearly the virgin Mary had decided that her part in the production was complete.
Now it was Aaron’s turn. He had been nervously waiting behind the stage munching down as many hot dogs as he possibly could. Nerves always made him hungry and he had this theory that swelling his stomach was the best way to kill the butterflies that may otherwise reside there in. He later admitted to me that he had consumed near on 12,000 calories before taking to the air that day.
Jake clamped the hook on the homemade winch to the elastic band on the back of his 4XL tighty wighties and started the motor. As the 380 lb angel slowly began to ascend, he was immediately caught in the world's worst wedgie, even before the ends of his fat toes left the ground. He screamed in pain. He screamed so loud that he even managed to attract everyone’s attention away from the still heavily panting donkey. The back of his Y-fronts dug so deep up into his asshole that it started to bleed. The first thing the audience and the cast on stage saw was his long blonde hair, followed by the excruciating look on his thick fat face. He wore, what was to be fair, a beautiful pair of huge white angel wings, also rented from the fancy dress store. These appeared to grow out of the side of his massively bloated huge and low hanging hugely swollen belly. In truth he looked fantastic. But angels are not supposed to have an anus, let alone one that’s been torn open and bleeding profusely. The blood dripped down from his backside between his fat legs, falling down onto the gainer Jesus below.
“Whose had their fun with him?” the virgin Mary enquired with a camp smirk. “They can do that to me!”
The angel Aaron writhed in agony. I’m not so sure if he forgot his line; “Do not be afraid. This very day in David’s town your saviour was born - Christ the Lord!” or if he just didn’t have time to deliver it properly before descending back to Earth, but either way he only kind of managed the last bit.
“JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!! He yelled just as the elastic in his underwear snapped and he plummeted naked, ass first onto the manger.
Jesus Fucking Christ, himself, yelled out in pain as the angelic young glutton crash landed on his saviour’s own massive belly. The messiah was badly winded but the human crash mattress had clearly saved the angel’s life. Aaron would never forget that fact. He believed and I also now believe that Shawn Stringer was brought to us to save Aaron. To save everyone like us.
The play came to a premature climax two seconds later when the front end of the donkey seemingly farted and orgasmed at the same time. The back half of the donkey tore itself away from the front, literally ripping its skin and fur wide open. The stark naked Oliver Twitch rolled out and onto the floor, crying and sweating profusely. The second miracle birth of the day had a raging hard-on which the gloriously fat infant tried but failed to reach due to his complete lack of energy and 100 inch circumference belly that lay in the way and rumbled loudly. No one in the cast had eaten for at least the last ten minutes. The three wise men never made it onto the stage but they weren’t at all bothered in the slightest as they had a hundred things they would rather eat than take part in some shitty play.
The audience rose to their feet in appreciation. They clapped and whooped wildly and the standing ovation went on for at least five minutes before everyone retired to the dining hall where Oliver Twitch told me, in the toilets, that it was the sweetest fart that he had ever tasted.
Despite having his life saved that day my life-long best friend Aaron, the fattest guy that I would ever know, still died prematurely. Neither of us ever met Shawn in person again after leaving camp that year. As you know he would go on to bigger and greater things, but Aaron knew that he was always destined to save him, in the way that he could never have saved my mother. He had been too young, too small, to cushion her fall. If only he had been older, fatter. That’s why he dedicated his life to gaining. It was his passion and his destiny. It’s also mine. Aaron Cosby died of a coronary arrest on the 15th of September 2047 aged 42. Even the messiah couldn’t save him from that misfortune.
Read more belly/gainer stories at www.fatfables.com
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fiestasaur · 4 months ago
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Just completed Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance's Canon of Vengeace's CHAOS route. I have rambly feelings. Beware of spoilers.
I never really knew how to feel about SMTV, even when the vanilla version came out in 2021. The battle system was honed to perfection, with more attention to affinities and the Magatsuhi bar system. World traversal was really fun, especially with vast maps, which we hadn't really had in a SMT game.
And yet, my mind always wandered to the parts I didn't really like. The Essence system was cool to modify your Nahobino, but I don't think I ever felt it necessary for your demons, meaning I'd end up with tens of unused Essences in my inventory. The story was barely there, and they didn't manage to make me care about any of the alignment reps. Traversing the maps never felt dangerous and sometimes just took to long.
And now, a couple of years later: Vengeance, an enhanced remake meant to improve on the common complaints about Vanilla V. And it addressed a lot of those in the new Canon of Vengeance. Hell, they even managed to make me like Dazai for a bit. But at the end, just like vanilla, it all kind of unraveled. The new QOL improvements made the game so easy on normal that I can't have died more than 20 times. Most fusion Magatsuhi skills don't really matter. Whether you pick law or chaos only affects the second to last boss and the cutscene you get at the end - and even then you don't get to see the outcome of your new world. It didn't stick the landing.
All this to say that I can't not compare this game to the other SMT games I've played, and especially the IV duology. For all its faults and the shonen-vibes of Apocalypse, I think I still vastly prefer those. They're more catered to my personal needs, and I know not everyone would agree with that. For starters, gimme more demons! Go back to sprites if that means we get hundreds of them again, please.
Furthermore,I personally just like spending more time with the human characters, like the Samurai and Factions in IV, or the special taskforce in Strange Journey. Some might find that too Persona-ey, but I prefer getting attached to the characters before they have to pick an alignment side over "Ichiro had a talk with Mastema and is cool and evil now". The Canon of Vengeance gave side characters more screen time and had them join your party, which helped in the first half, but eh.
Where I would place Vengeance on my favourite SMT chart is something I'm gonna be thinking about for a while. Part of me really wants to focus on the good in Vengeance, but that soggy white bread of a story is always in the background. Right now I'd put it one spot above Devil Survivor 2 and a spot below Soul Hackers.
Also, those thighs are worth picking Chaos for.
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primeministerofantarctica · 2 years ago
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random ducktales headcanons in no particular order
you know how some kids make up imaginary friends to blame for their mistakes? that's how phooey was born.
the triplets realize very young that trying to pin the blame on each other will only result in all of them getting grounded, so. it's so sad their secret fourth brother will explode if anyone else besides them looks at him which is why uncle donald can never see them :punch: :pensive: (<- that was dewey's idea ofc)
board games are a relatively easy way to entertain kids and pass the time for free, so donald ended up buying a lot from secondhand stores and garage sales.
huey loves strategy games. he has a junior woodchuck badge in chess playing! when he moves into the mansion he's excited to find similar games like go and shogi (also he's just, really happy to finally have someone give him a run for his money in chess)
dewey likes charades, but only when he's the one acting. he also likes pit! (that's a card game where you have to yell a lot XD)
louie's favorite game is candyland, although that usually turns into "try to catch louie switching out the cards" than actual playing. louie swears up and down that he'd never cheat and it's not his fault dewey never won.
webby's favorite game is something totally obscure you've never heard of. she's also a fan of cluedo :). (it takes like, a week for the kids to realize clue and cluedo are the same thing)
all the kids are trans (source: dude trust me)
donald sitting down at the parent-teacher conference and looking at the list of adhd symptoms the teacher handed him: wdym, these are all normal kid things? i mean, my sister was like this.
(cut to ten years later) della: wow dewey really takes after his mom doesn't he ^_^
donald: haha. hahaha. ha. about that.
SPEAKING OF PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES. donald is a pta mom you can't convince me otherwise. one day he's going to show helen what real homemade brownies taste like. as soon as he doesn't burn them.
louie knows how to pickpocket and is fairly good at it, he just doesn't because the first time he got caught donald looked so upset and he doesn't wanna relive that again.
high school dewey tries to force himself into dating bc he thinks that's a requirement to being a "cool, beloved, popular teen" (it is according to the movies!) Anyways he quickly realizes he's miserable and would rather walk across glass shards than kiss anyone. (then he learns about aromanticism and asexuality.)
huey used to have pretty bad meltdowns on an almost regular basis, until donald signed the boys up for jr woodchucks in kindergarten (mostly just to get them out of the house for a while) and something Clicked. finally, structure! routine! a book of set rules and expectations! (it's not like he magically stopped having meltdowns overnight but it helped him feel less overwhelmed, yk?)
feel free to add on if you have any :3
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galaxyedging · 2 years ago
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Charlie x f!reader
WC:430
Warnings: bad dad jokes. Hints at naughty times.
Charlie's Birthday
A large warm hand came to rest on your backside. The strong squeeze of it usually would be very welcome if you weren't in public. 
"Charlie." You chide him. 
"What? There have to be perks about life at this height. Easy access to your ass is definitely one of them."
"Charlie!" Your stern tone was undercut by the blush of your cheeks. "People will look."
"They already are. I'm the guy in the wheelchair at a bowling alley."
"Are you really playing the wheelchair card to get away with touching my ass in public?"
"Depends if it's working?"
"Nope."
"Fine. I'll tuck it away for later."
The bartender came over with your drinks which you carried to your lane. Charlie set up the scoreboard, letting you go first. 
"Ladies first.."
"I was going to say age before beauty.."
"Ouch! I'm not old."
"You're older than you were yesterday."
"So are you!" He barked out a laugh.
"I mean your birthday…" The two of you laughed until you needed to catch your breath.
Your first bowl left you with a seven ten split. On the second one you nailed the ten. 
"Let me show you how it's done, Sweetcheeks." Charlie loved to goad you. Your competitive streak was hot. 
Picking up his ball, he placed it in his lap to approach the fault line. Just as he got there he applied his break. Swinging his arm back, he moved to line up the ball…"Damn it."
"What?" You were up from the bench and by his side in an instant.
"I forgot my bowling shoes."
Since Charlie had become more at ease in his chair this past year, his confidence was back but unfortunately his Dad jokes grew stronger too. The pride you had in him really took a dent on days like this.
"I'm sorry. That was the last bad joke. I promise." Taking your hand, he kissed it. "Forgive me?"
"I suppose." He pressed a few more kisses up your arm. There was no way you could stay mad at him. "Fine. Just bowl."
Charlie got eight pins and a gutter ball. "Is that how you do it, Sweetcheeks?"
The teasing carried on through the game. It was light-hearted and sometimes plain stupid, but somehow the competitiveness still managed to turn you both on. After making out in the car, you decided to head home and order takeout rather than go to a restaurant. 
From Charlie's shouts of "Yes! Yes! Yes!" The take out guy thought someone was very happy to see him. If only he knew.
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page-matcha · 9 months ago
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hehe hiii sophie!! wanted to know how you've been~ please enjoy my lil gift for you! ʚ♡⃛ɞ
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"what."
"what do you mean what?"
you both stare at each other in confusion, not knowing whether to laugh or what. but beomgyu's lips slightly quirking up in the corners weren't hard to miss.
"why'd you keep looking at me like that." it was more of a statement than a question once the words fell from your lips.
"can I not look at the prettiest person in the world?" beomgyu winks at you, catching you off guard, but you refuse to lose to him this time round.
"just because you can look like a boba-eyed cutie doesn't mean you can flirt with me like that." you cross your arms, refusing to grow weak from his attention on you.
"how long can you hold out?" he inches his face closer to yours. it was probably close enough to feel the way your cheeks are radiating heat right now.
"as long as I can." you reply confidently.
"so like ten seconds." he chuckles, teasing you again as he leaves mere millimetres between you, feeling his warm breath by your lips.
"ugh this is so stupid, why are we even playing this game?" the complaint leaves a sour expression on your face, clearly not having as much fun as beomgyu.
"it's to see how well we can control ourselves despite the temptation to kiss each other, princess." he whispers the pet name, almost giving you chills down your spine.
"I want your lips on mine already, gyu." you sulk, lips still millimetres apart, eyes focusing on each other's lips.
"you just can't get enough of me, can you?" he teases, but he's about to give in.
he always does.
"I can never get enough of you. not my fault I have a stunning boyfriend who's an amazing kisser." you brag about him as if he isn't who you're describing.
not even a split second later, beomgyu crashes his lips onto yours, his one hand steadying himself on your lap and the other cupping your cheek. you can feel his lips form a smile against yours, softly biting your bottom lip as you hold onto the side of his neck to deepen the kiss.
pulling away, you mirror his hazy smile, brushing his hair away so you can see his round eyes.
"looks like you lost, pretty boy." you chuckle as you watch his expression change from the look of realisation to defeat.
"I guess you really do have a way with your words." he pouts at you.
ugh he's so cute.
"I still meant it though, I didn't just say it for the sake of the game." you reassure him as you lightly skim your nails along the column of his neck, sending chills down your boyfriend's spine this time.
he leans into your touch, momentarily shutting his eyes as you continue your motions.
"you're too good to me," he pauses. "sometimes."
"sometimes?"
"nah, all the time." beomgyu turns his head so his lips make contact with the palm of your hand and kisses it briefly. "and I'm always going to be so down bad for you, even if it means losing this stupid game."
SMILESSS HIIII
Omg this is so cute stop- The fact that Beomgyu gave in to me and not the other way around is a miracle though 😭 truly proud because of that 💪
Beomgyu being a simp though is just so cbudnusnuanuxnjsnhah
Thank you for for gifting me a Beomgyu make out session 😌
I literally woke up to this ask in my inbox and it made me feel so happy c: This genuinely made my year-
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