#and why does it look so little like a pokémon from these angles. this looks like some kamen rider character as opposed to a pokémon

[front-facing-pokemon]

[d3adbr3inc3lls]

I'm sorry if you've written something similar, but can you write an Amethio x Reader ff where his ceruledge and the mcs pokemon (gardevior if you need a specific one!) really like each other? bonus if amethio and the reader aren't fond of each other.

Amethio x Reader | Fic and Headcannons

Summary: You're part of the RVT and your Gardevior has been napping a lot more than she usually does.

You are part of the RVT, he is part of the Explorers. It was only natural that you two have a rivalry.

Everything about him annoys you, how was he so calm whilst he tries to steal something that belonged to Liko?

How and why is he so calm, it's Iike nothing bothers him, Nothing makes him tick.

How is he even this strong for a trainer who is your age? Does he even have a life outside training?

Probably not.

Either way, things could've gotten worse, and becuase the universe is against you, they did.

You never really noticed it at first, but your Gardevior, despite being feircly loyal, wasn't always at your side when you were at home -you never thought much of it, you let her roam around your home however she pleases- but then you start to notice it. Somstimes she is late for lunch, sometimes she'd take her sweet, sweet, time walking downstairs after you call her.

It never really bothered you, she could've been taking a nap, but the more it happened, the more suspicous it felt. You knew that some pokémon love to go outside and roam around, but she's too domesticated go out alone, unless she was starting her rebel phase.

It was all fun in games, you didn't mind her being a bit late, but sooner or later, you got an unpleasant awnser to her constant napping.

. . .

The sun hits your face at the perfect angle to annoy you and make sure you couldn't do anything about it. Your Gardevior is suffering the same fate, she shakes her head and lets out a soft cry before she begins to drag you to a nearby cafe.

You know that she's spoiled, but you can't bring yourself to do anything about it apart from feeding into it. Sometimes you're greatful that she's the only pokemon you have, taking care of 10 spoiled little kids would drain your money like there's no tomorrow, and it's a future you're not willing to face just yet.

You haven't even taken your eyes off of her for more than a minute as you pay for the pastries, and you find out that your Gardevoir has wandered off somewhere.

Calling out her name in confusion, you look around, knowing that she'd be nearby.

. . .

You couldn't help but groan in frustration as you saw the familiar black and pale blue/silver haired boy, walking with his Ceruledge and your Gardevoir.

You could see his eye twitch, giving way to some annoyance before being covered up by the constant neutral expresion he wears.

He says your name in his usual, formal, tone, glaring at you like you had just killed his mother infront of him.

"Amethio," You reply back, mimicking his tone as your eyes wander to your Gardevoir who looks up at you with a horrified expression before she walks over to you with her head down in shame.

You couldn't blame her for catching feelings, but it doesn't mean that you weren't allowed to dislike them.

. . . Headcannons . . .

I can imagine that the two of you would still have a rocky relationship, but you had to stop going at eachother's throats for the sake of your 'mons.

Over time, you and Amethio might have gotten closer, enough to develop a friendship, but it's fragile, and any wrong action would easily break it.

And due to you being a part of the RVT, and him being a part of the Explorers, you two are waiting for one to betray the other, giving both of you an excuse to never see eachother.

It'd be devastating for your 'mons, but it's a good excuse.

A/N: Finished this last week, I currently have exams... wish me luck chat... but I have one on Monday, and then I'm free for a while. Hopefully I'll start writing more,,,

[leavingautumn13]

What equipment and programs do you use to make your art? Your about says you're self taught, what helped you learn? And does anything specific give you inspiration for your current style or what you'd like to achieve in the future? I really like your art❤️

ahh!! hey, thank you so much!! <3 that's so kind of you to say!!

easy questions first: for digital art i use a wacom intuos tablet and paint tool sai, which is the only setup i've ever used. i've been trying to get into clip studio paint but something about it just doesn't stick with me. i think i need more practice.

for comic panels and lettering i use adobe indesign, and export as png to before putting them in sai.

everything else under the cut so this post isn't miles long

i've been drawing ever since i was a kid, but until middle school i mostly just drew animals or little notebook paper comics about animals. i grew up on a farm so there were lots around, and drawing from life is something i think really helped. like, there's a difference between knowing what a cat looks like and being able to pick one up and see how its bones and muscles fit together, being able to watch it change how it moves around depending on what it's doing, whether it's catching a mouse or playing with another cat or curled up asleep, and being able to break down that anatomy and movement into simple shapes. i'm a pretty visually oriented person so knowing how a thing functions or fits together as simple shapes helps me visualize it in my head and imagine how it would look in different poses or from different angles.

around middle school i moved onto drawing people, again from life while sitting in a cafe or at a park. actually being able to get what's in my head down onto paper in a way that satisfies me is something that i think just took practice. only recently (like, late last/this year) have i been consistently satisfied with the way i draw things.

sorry if that sounds weird or clinical--this is the first time i've been asked to explain how i learned to draw and this is the best way i can think to say it.

honestly, finding my own style has been looking at what i like about other artists' styles and trying to figure out how they achieved that. i did a lot of redraws of other peoples' art as a kid. for me, trying to replicate something makes me really think about why i like the way it looks. i try to lean towards a semi-realistic style--i don't like drawing super realistic all the time, i love cartoons and think they have a lot of character--but i also don't want to lose the underlying anatomy or structure because it helps my brain make sense of stuff. so i try to find the middle of the road, where things are simplified but still structured, if that makes sense.

brief tangent... that's why i draw pokémon the way i do. they're not on model, they're how i imagine they would look if they were real animals, based on the sort of animals they're... uh, based on. so like for this piece, because camerupt is a cow/camel hybrid, i looked at a bunch of pictures of cows laying on their sides, what their hooves and skulls looked like from certain angles, etc. and then i could draw what i wanted.

as for improvements, i need to get better at backgrounds and realistic coloring/lighting. color theory is one of those things that i understand... well, in theory, but when it comes to practice and paying attention to it when i color, i need work. and because i've mostly drawn animals and people my whole life--organic stuff--i find buildings and backgrounds difficult, so i tend to avoid them. and i need to not do that.

[agonyaster]

This Will Be the Day

The journey to Unova, to the Pokémon World Tournament, comes with more stipulations than Tate is really ready for.

prefer ao3? read here!!

…

Tate’s never been this far outside of Hoenn before. A few years ago he and Liza and their parents went out to visit a cousin for her wedding, but it was some small island just barely outside of Hoenn’s waters and they didn’t even take a plane so it doesn’t really count. A few months ago he thinks Mom said something about Hoenn annexing that island, whatever that means, but he’s pretty sure that the little island really doesn’t count towards his travel history anymore.

Maybe that’s why he’s so excited when he and Liza get those gold-trimmed envelopes in the mail, inviting them out to Unova to compete in some fancy tournament. And then he finds out that every other gym leader in Hoenn got invited too and it's just that much cooler.

It takes forever to get all the boring stuff all planned out. The league has like, twice the number of meetings than they usually do to make sure everyone’s ready and that the elite four will be good looking after the region while they’re all gone, and then it's more meetings to actually set up transport and stuff. Winona is the one who does the most work with that, so he and Liza usually end up playing cards with Flannery during those meetings.

But, eventually, they’re given a date and a time to meet up at the airport and Tate’s so excited he hardly sleeps during the days leading up to it. The day they leave Liza has to remind him to bring his pokémon with him because he’s so desperate to get out.

Traveling far isn’t as fun as Tate thought it would be, especially because Juan made everyone wait fifteen minutes so he could get a stupidly expensive coffee from one of the airport cafés. And the airport is crowded and no matter how hard he tries to block them out the voices are overwhelming— it feels like an Exploud is throwing a tantrum within the confines of his skull. Liza notices, taking him by the hand and finding a somewhat-secluded corner of the waiting gate. Things aren’t much better there, but it’s something.

Plus, during the super long flight to Unova, he and Liza got stuck sitting next to Wattson. And even if he’s really nice, Wattson snores super loud. Liza manages to sleep through it but he couldn’t, spending the whole flight with a pillow clamped over his ears and his eyes screwed shut, trying to sleep.

Nimbasa is big and loud, and if it weren’t for Brawly snagging him by the scruff Tate probably would’ve been swept away by a particularly large group of tourists thundering their way through the airport. He mumbles a thank you and finds Liza, linking their hands together and letting her drag him along with the rest of the group. At some point they get onto a subway for just a few stops, and when they emerge they’re in a completely different city. Roxanne tells him it's called Driftveil.

There’s someone important-looking with a big hat and two assistants standing to attention waiting for them outside of the station, and he takes a moment to shake everyone’s hand before they start. They’re sun-damaged and scarred, and when Tate reaches out to shake his hand, he can feel the roughness of the man’s palms. The man turns to Liza, shakes her hand too, and Tate can’t help but wonder how many times he’s broken the pinky on his left hand: it sticks out at such an odd angle it had to have been at least twice. He wonders where the gem on his hat is from too, but both of those things don’t seem like something he should be asking.

The man starts talking and Tate doesn’t pay much attention to what’s said, stifling a yawn in his fist and trying his best to keep up with the rest of the group without tripping over the cracks in the pavement or stepping in any of the puddles forming from all the rain. The man guides them into their hotel and hands over the keycards to their rooms, and the group disperses.

He and Liza get a room on the third floor and while she fusses with her hair in the bathroom, Tate drops his bags on one of the beds and sits down at the little table next to the window. Peeling back the blinds and gazing out, he’s greeted with a view of the harbor. The drizzle from before has picked up and now rain comes down in steady sheets; Tate likes the sound it makes as it hits the window.

Distantly, he hears the door open and click shut, and Tate can feel Liza’s presence retreating down the hall, her voice in his head growing quieter. He reaches out, questioning; her response is swift and gentle. He’s tempted to follow, but doesn’t. If she does need something, he’ll know. The steady thrum of the rain against the window pulls him close to sleep, eyelids growing heavy and his mind filling with fog. He’s teetering the line between wakefulness and slumber, the dull drizzle echoing in his ears and drowning out the psychic sound of the other people in the hotel.

Before he finally slips into slumber, the lock clicks and the door opens again, Liza padding back into the room.

“I got the schedule,” she explains, waving a piece of paper at him as she joins Tate by the window. The paper makes a funny sound as it wobbles back and forth. “Battles won’t actually start until the day after tomorrow, and we won’t know the order or anything until then.”

Tate hums.

“Clay, the gym leader here, said that if we need any held items or berries or anything we should just tell him. Since we couldn’t really take a lot of that stuff on the plane.”

Tate worries his bottom lip between his teeth. “Could I get… liechi, wacan, colbur, ganlon, kasib and sitrus berries? Enough for all of the battles I have to do.��

“I don’t see why not.” She shrugs. “I’ll figure out what I want and we’ll get a list out to him tomorrow.”

Slowly, Tate’s mind returns to him. “When’s the doubles tournament?”

Liza takes her hair out of its bun, setting the ribbon down on the table. A strange, static feeling arcs its way through Tate’s limbs, and she doesn’t meet his eyes. “There isn’t one. It’s just singles.”

All at once, he snaps back to attention, ice-cold panic pumping through his veins. Tate tries not to let it show on his face but that doesn’t matter, he can’t hide anything, not from Liza.

“Oh.”

“It’s not gonna be the end of the world, Tate,” she assures, but her voice wavers nonetheless. “I’ve still got you with me, even if we’re not battling together. That’s gonna be enough; has to be, at least.”

He doesn’t say anything. What could he? He knows she can tell, can feel his panic, see the anxiety as it chews away at his core.

“Maybe if we get on Clay’s good side, we can convince him to set up a doubles round for next year. And I mean, we got this! When we kick butt in the singles rounds it’ll just prove to everyone else how much better we are. And we’ll be battling separate for the tourney— you know how much better we’ll do together? Ooh, I just know that Norman is going to want to do a mini-tournament when we get back to Hoenn: we can finally knock Glacia down a few pegs.”

“I still don’t really get what your issue is with her.”

“You don’t have to, you just have to help me destroy her.”

“Okay, fine.”

“You wanna know what else I found out when I went down there?” Liza wiggles her eyebrows, grinning.

Despite himself, a smile starts to creep across his face. “…What?”

“Room service bills are gonna be paid by the league.” Liza launches herself onto the bed and crawls towards the nightstand, snatching up the menu. “And I don’t know about you but I’m definitely in the mood for some cake.”

With a giggle, Tate joins her on the bed, peeking over Liza’s shoulder and squinting down to read the menu. “What do you think a baked Alaska is?”

“Why should I know?” She flips to the other side of the menu, scanning the gold-foil text. “But what I’m hearing is that we should order one and find out.”

“What? No!”

“If we don’t like it we can just send it down to Juan. He’ll probably like it.”

“Okay, well, if we’re getting something for him I want—”

“It’s not for him, he’s just the backup if it’s gross,” Liza corrects.

“Then what do I get?”

“I dunno? You pick!”

[lepoppeta]

What, in your opinion, are the dumbest-looking/worst design Pokémon?

*cracks knuckles*

So... this absolute monstrosity would be at the top of my list. Enamourus, the fourth genie monster and an exclusive to Legends Arceus.

What.. what is this? What the ever-loving CARP was GameFreak thinking? How did this get a free pass? It's too thin, it's too complex, it's too... everything. It's so bad.

Rhyperior took a really solid, if a little dull, monster (Rhydon) and made it squat and disgraceful. The poor thing doesn't have a neck anymore! How does it turn its head?!

@roxycake and I have mentioned this before but Conkledurr is one of the single most gag-inducing monsters to exist; this weird... bizarre... vein-y clown thing hunched over two concrete pillars. Who the fuck thought this was okay?

Barbaracle is just... why are its eyes on its hands? Does that mean it can't pick stuff up? Who approved this?

Probopass has always been very unsettling to me, but it got worse when the 3D games started to get produced because its in-game blinking animation is so weird. That giant red cap thing on its head? Yeah that shit just clips down like a stapler. It makes my skin crawl.

Dracovish gets a bit more of a free pass because it's supposed to look awful (it's based on the unfortunate fact that early British paleontologists would put skeletons together incorrectly and display them in museums) but like... did they really have to make it look that bad? What's worse is that Dracovish is genuinely a good Pokemon, it just looks like shit. Maybe I'll warm up to it one day; it's kind of cute if you look at it from a certain angle. Fugly, if you will.

[tarnishedxknight]

[ Another Time Another Place A Hollow Universe In Space ]

The Guardians exchanged looks, glancing at each other as Basch spoke. They were all silently asking themselves the same question.

Where are we?

“Skystone?” Quill echoed. “Wait, what? I don’t use those to fuel my ship.”

“Our ship,” Rocket corrected.

“We fuel it on space stations,” Quill added, ignoring Rocket. “It’s an M-class spaceship. It doesn’t need skystones. I don’t even know what a skystone is.”

“You don’t know what many things are, Quill,” Drax said rather stoically.

“Could we leave remarks for later?” Gamora suggested. “Now is not the time.”

“I threw a stone at Quill once because he wouldn’t stop callin’ me a trash panda,” Rocket said to Basch, his arms crossed. “Does that count?”

Drax’s stoic expression disappeared and he started laughing uncontrollably, while Mantis, still holding Groot, gently placed him on her shoulder.

“Wait, there’s a palace here?” Quill asked when Basch said they weren’t allowed to walk in unescorted. He quickly turned around and searched for a mirror. “Could you give me five minutes? I’ve gotta check my hair.”

“I am Groot?” Groot, perched on Mantis’ shoulder, placed his tiny hands on her cheek. “I am Groot…”

“He is right. You look pale, Mantis,” Gamora said, her eyes gleaming with concern.

“I do?” Mantis blinked, trying to get rid of the unusual, burning feeling behind her eyes. Her head was spinning; her vision, blurry. The Guardians formed a small circle around her. Even Quill stopped looking for a mirror. “I am fine,” she said. “A little dizzy, but I am okay.”

“You’re lookin’ gaunt, bug,” Rocket mumbled.

“Captain,” Quill said to Basch. “From one Captain to another: I gotta look after my team. If you want us to wait here to prove we mean no harm, we will. But I think my friend is not feeling well. If we could formally introduce ourselves, at palace or anywhere else, then maybe we could get her the help she needs.” He swallowed, visibly trying to keep calm. He wasn’t feeling great either, though he couldn’t really pinpoint why. All the Guardians knew something was… off. What Mantis felt was just a more intense, heightened version of that. To travel the planets and galaxies was one thing, and they were used to it. But the Guardians had ended up on another universe, even though they didn’t know that yet.

(Thank you for explaining, that’s so cool! Yeah, the Guardians are like “what the fuck is a skystone?” hahaha, and I was referring to a Pokémon called Chandelure, they have a similar face! Whether Munoh interacts with Mantis or not, she’s gonna have a hard time. It’s because you’re in another universe and your empathy can feel it from all angles, Mant.)

__________

{ I’m putting this below a cut because damn it got long, heh.}

{ No problem! I just thought that since you said you were completely unfamiliar with the game that I’d help you get an idea of what was going on. I know that I find that even if it’s something my muses don’t know or that will never come up in a thread, it helps me to have the information because then I can write from a place of understanding as far as what they’d be seeing or how they might interpret things they know nothing about.

To give you an idea of where exactly they are, this pic shows the Royal Palace of Rabanastre, and if you look in the upper left, at those spire-like structures sticking out of the top of it, those aren’t only watchtowers and places from which the mages cast shield spells and other things to protect the palace, they also contain the ship docks. So the docks are actually up in the air, and then there’s a walkway that you get onto when you get off your ship and you can walk into the tower and down into the palace, assuming you’re allowed to, heh. There are other docks in the city, but those are the ones for palace use only. But honestly, if they’re the highest ones in the city, it makes sense that the Guardians would’ve landed there first.

They never really showed the Dalmascan royal docks in any kind of detail, but I took some screenshots of an Archadian one which at least shows the basic idea. There’s a locking mechanism that kindof grabs the ship when it moves closer to the dock, holding it in place, and then you’d exit onto the walkway. Granted, this one is for a tiny ship and not in Dalmasca, but it’s the same setup. 

So the Guardians when they open their ship would be seeing what looks like a walkway and then an entranceway into… somewhere, heh. There’d be guards posted randomly around in addition to the small group Basch brought with him.

Also I’m so sorry, but Vossler wants to start some shit. I absolutely refuse to make him a full muse because I seriously dislike him, but he wants in on this so I’m going to let him have a say. Basch would leave someone of authority with the Guardians while he spoke to the king anyway, so it makes sense. But ugh, I hope he doesn’t end up ruining the whole thread with his arrogant ass. *rolls eyes* 

And OH, HAHA, I totally read that fast and thought it was “chandelier,” which wasn’t far off either, I thought. I’m not familiar with that Pokémon (I stopped played so many years ago, heh) but I looked it up and omg you’re right, it’s got those same round yellow eyes, lol.  }

The more these odd travelers spoke, the more perplexed and wary the guards standing behind Basch appeared. They looked at each other in shock and bewilderment. Basch, however, remained calm and attentive, letting them talk amongst themselves as he listened. It was his experience that people revealed much if one just let them talk, and so he did so… and what he heard was startling, to say the least.

They didn’t know what skystones were? Their ship… didn’t use them? How else did they stay in the air? And what sort of fuel were they referring to? By the time their captain was talking about space and the class of their ship, Basch felt it prudent to interject. He could also tell his guards were unnerved by this entire situation, Reks in particular. He was a young man of seventeen, but already a member of the royal guard by virtue of his dedication and ability. His self-doubt often hindered him, however, and so Basch had sought to keep him close, to help him gain confidence.

“C-captain…?” Reks said nervously, a look of worry he often wear already forming on his young face. Who were these people, where were they from, and more importantly, what did they want?

“Steady,” Basch said to him gently. “Space,” he then repeated to this Star-Lord. “Do you refer to the heavens? Adjacent the stars?” he asked, by way of clarification. Was that… possible? Perhaps in far distant lands, there were peoples who had far more advanced technology than was known of in Ivalice, but he’d never heard of such a thing before. “I know not what an M-class ship is, nor what sort of fuel you seek, but by your ship’s lack of both skystones and glossair rings, am I assume that you are from a land far outside of Ivalice?”

At the mention of the palace, Basch realized that they didn’t even know they were essentially at said palace. “Aye.” He gestured behind him. “This is the Royal Palace of Rabanastre, home of His Majesty King Raminas of Dalmasca. As I said, ‘tis a dock zoned purely for palace traffic at which you’ve arrived,” he explained, calmly and respectfully.

At the mention of someone being ill, however, Basch fell silent. He watched as the occupants of the ship seemed to focus on one of their own in particular, an individual of a race he’d never before seen. In fact, nearly all aboard the ship appeared to be of races unknown to him. Only Star-Lord, who appeared to Basch to be a hume, was a familiar sight. He opened his mouth to respond to the man’s plea when a voice from behind caused him to turn.

“Who dares trespass in our airspace? Thieves? Or Spies?” said Vossler sternly, storming up to see the situation for himself. “Word of a ship of questionable affiliation has spread quickly throughout the palace,” he said to Basch.

When Vossler arrived, there was a noticeable change in the demeanor of the small group of guardsmen who had accompanied Basch. It was not as if they were slacking or behaving informally by any means, but they had clearly been relaxed in Basch’s presence. With the addition of Vossler, the guards visibly stiffened, appearing a bit more nervous around him.

“An emergency landing, it was. Their ship experienced distress and one of their crew is ill,” Basch explained to Vossler before turning back to the ship. “Captain Star-Lord, this is Ser Vossler York Azelas, Knight of Dalmasca. Ser Azelas, this is Captain Star-Lord of Missouri in Terra.”

“Where?” Vossler asked, bewildered.

“I’ve not heard of it either. I believe they have traveled very far,” Basch said.

“And they can turn right ‘round and return from whence they came. They’ve neither right nor given privilege to remain here,” Vossler said coldly.

“Their ship requires repair, and one of them is in need of healing,” Basch insisted.

“That is neither our problem nor our concern,” Vossler said with the same coldness. He looked to the Guardians. “Leave. You are not welcome here.”

“I have welcomed them,” Basch said, his gentle, kind tone taking on a sudden stern authority. “They have done no wrong and are in need of assistance. We will provide that assistance, as per the code of the Order to which we hold with honor.” Vossler was his friend, but his arrogance was something of a personal failing of his, Basch knew.

Reks swallowed hard, looking between Basch and Vossler. A few of the others shifted uncomfortably on their feet.

Vossler sighed with emasculated frustration and his jaw clenched, setting crooked for a moment, before he responded. “Aye, Captain.”

“Remain here while I speak with His Majesty. He should know of this, and Star-Lord has requested an audience. And we must attend to the one who is ill in swift course,” Basch said, turning to leave.

Reks was practically begging with his expression not to be left with Vossler, but alas, the young man had no choice.

As Basch left off down the connecting passage between the dock and the palace tower, Vossler slowly stepped closer to the ship, eyeing each and every one of the Guardians as well as their ship. “What manner of ship is this, Captain?” he asked, speaking the title with arrogant condescension. “Cargo carrier, personnel transport, or tactical vessel?”

“Th-they said it was an M-class ship, Ser,” Reks said.

Vossler turned a bit to look at him. “And what does that mean?”

Reks shrugged and shook his head. “I don’t know, Ser.”

Vossler turned back to the Guardians. “Archadian spies? Or Rozarrian? Which are you?” he challenged them.

“They said they came from space, Ser,” Reks said.

Vossler’s face contorted with distrust and irritation. “Space? Absurd.” He looked directly at Star-Lord. “At least lie well.”

[magicmalcolm]

Fun With Palindromes: A Welcome To Devitt's Minific

"Hey Ferg, you gotta sec?"

Fergal Devitt looked up from his phone to see Sami looking perplexed at whatever was happening on the screen of his Switch. Sami was even tilting his head at a quizzical angle, which was utterly adorable.

"What's up, Sambo?"

Sami waited for Fergal to walk up beside him before showing him the screen, "So I was just playing around with the Radar thingie when this happened. What do these sparkles mean?"

Fergal's jaw dropped at the image before him, "Oh my God, Sami tell me you have Repels."

"Uh yeah..." Sami went into the menu to double-check, finding he did indeed have a couple of them, "Should I use one?"

"Yes! Immediately! If not sooner!"

Sami crinkled his nose at Fergal's sudden excited outburst, "Okay...so it's safe to walk into those? I'm not gonna get attacked by, like, Giratina or something?"

"Absolutely!" Fergal paused, "I mean that it's safe, not that yer gonna get jumped."

"The only jumpy thing here is you," Sami looked over at Fergal, who was visibly vibrating beside him, "Right, Repelled up and...here we go..."

Fergal's eyes widened, "A Shiny Girafarig?!"

"Is that good?" Sami looked a little closer at the giraffe Pokémon, "Does it have a cold or something? Why's it's nose blue?"

"Just catch it!"

"Okay, okay...sheesh," Sami sighed as Fergal gripped tightly onto his shoulder, "Uh...I'll just toss a Quick Ball, I guess?"

Both men watched as the Quick Ball flew through the air, the Shiny Pokémon disappearing inside in a flash of light. Sami felt Fergal's grip tighten on his shoulder as the Ball shook once...

Twice...

Thrice...

Click.

"Whoo! Sami!" Fergal cheered as the confirmation of capture message flashed on screen, "Your first Shiny! And it's a Girafarig, of all things!"

"Huh...it does look a bit different..." Sami mused, "Wait, is it just a Girafarig that's been dipped in blue paint?"

"I mean...basically yes..." Fergal grinned, "But it's still pretty cool, right? Save the game, by the way."

"It's cute, I guess?" Sami shrugged as he clicked to save the game as instructed, "I'm guessing this a bigger deal than I think it is?"

"You found a Shiny Patch of grass in one Radar use, Sami. You have no idea how lucky that is! And it's the giraffe based Pokémon too! The best animal!"

"Well I'm excited that you're excited, if nothing else," Sami smiled fondly at the look of pure joy on Fergal's face, "I think you should have this."

"Really?!" Fergal wrapped his arms around Sami's neck, "You mean it?"

"Ferg, this is apparently a special version of this Pokémon," Sami grinned as he felt Fergal nuzzle against him, "Who else needs this more than my favourite giraffe enthusiast?"

"I love you so much, Sami Zayn," Fergal unwrapped himself from Sami, before cupping his face in his hands and kissing him quickly, "I'm going to get my Switch then I'm coming back for more kisses!"

"Can't wait..." Sami laughed to himself as Fergal dashed inelegantly away, looking back down at the Shiny Girafarig on the screen, "A lucky find huh...? Nothing's luckier than finding you, Ferg."

[phoenix-manga]

Vice Dorm Leaders getting along with Pokémon:

It didn’t take long for the vice dorm leaders to get involved with the Pokemon too. The shenanigans that happened with them are... interesting to say the least.

Trey + Slurpuff

“The Unbirthday Party was a success thanks to this little guy’s sense of smell… Though I should expect to make a large portion for it, the number of sweets it ate was shocking for everyone!”

Trey was a bit skeptical when Phoebe lent him Slurpuff and told him that chefs would use them to sniff out the freshest ingredients but if they say so then it must be worth a try.

Needless to say, he was pleasantly surprised to see the cake thing nudge him to the best ingredients to use for his sweets. He rewarded Slurpuff with a spoon covered in frosting or batter. The Pokémon mostly stayed out of his way and only has to bring him some tools or supplies.

When he presented the sweets he made, everyone including Riddle were almost knocked into a food coma with how good it was. Even Trey was lost in the trance of the flavor, but he was snapped out of it when he spotted Slurpuff eating almost half of the buffet table, he rushed to it and told it to ask him for more sweets to prevent any problems.

Ruggie + Crobat

“That Phoebe kid feeds you this? Aww man! I’m so jealous, now I wish I was a Pokémon!”

That one-time Ruggie came across Crobat was when he passed by Ramshackle to see a large bat creature with four wings eating from a large bowl filled with berries, Poke puffs and even poffins. The amount it ate distracted him from his usual task and he only snapped out of it when Crobat made eye-contact with him.

Crobat wasn’t sure why a stranger was here but it assumed it wanted food so Crobat nudged a Poke puff towards Ruggie’s direction before going back to chow down. Ruggie didn’t plan on asking it for any food, he was just curious but since it offered, who is he to decline? Picking up the Poke puff and taking a bite, he immediately devours it till there’s nothing left. That was the tastiest pastry he has had; they were even better than the ones in the cafeteria.

He hears Phoebe call out to Crobat and he took this time to scram before he was found. That kid pampers their creatures like royalty, he admits that he once had the thought that wishes that he was a Pokémon too. Ruggie now sneaks to go to Ramshackle and Crobat sneaks him a portion of its food, Ruggie repays it by offering some to it as well. They just formed this unspoken lunch trade. The one time Phoebe made malasadas for Crobat, Ruggie was in heaven lemme tell you.

Phoebe has no idea about this, this was just a secret thing between Crobat and Ruggie. One time Phoebe was with Crobat in the field and it spots Ruggie, Crobat immediately goes to him and flies around him. Phoebe assumed that Crobat took a liking to Ruggie because it probably sensed that he’s a foodie. Oh, if only she knew.

Jade + Lapras

“Such kind yet protective eyes you have~ I’m far from trustworthy yet you nuzzle against me like a seal, this is quite interesting”

Phoebe asked Azul if she can be allowed to have her water Pokémon swim about in Octavinelle. The lake is much too small for the larger ones. Azul gave her permission but in exchange she has to work part-time at the lounge, Azul is capitalizing as usual. The mention of Pokémon being at Octavinelle brought more customers to the lounge, the one that got the most attention was Lapras.

It was very friendly and even paused to look inside the lounge from the windows. Phoebe was not surprised that Lapras was friendly, what she didn’t expect was that it got attached to Jade for some reason. She would have thought it was Sharpedo or even Eelektross who would get along with the cunning vice dorm leader. But instead, Lapras is swimming happily in circles wanting Jade’s attention.

Jade, of course, finds the Pokémon endearing and would always take his time to pet it whenever he’s on break. Even offering Lapras a small treat or two, Lapras is enjoying it. There was a rare occasion that Jade swam with Lapras in his eel form, at times he swims alongside Lapras or have it chase him through the water, other times he just sleeps on Lapras’ back as it swam.

Jamil + Serperior

“Quite the proud one you are, at least you’re more tolerable than Kalim…”

Kalim promised a favor without consulting Jamil again, this time it was to look after some of her Pokémon. Kalim got caught up in the excitement of having to get close with those strange creatures that he didn’t think that it could be troublesome.

Jamil stopped in his tracks at the sight of Kalim with a large green snake behind him. Boy did he get quite the scolding from Jamil, but what can he do now that Kalim as already offered? He just decides to “help” him take care of Serperior. Thankfully, Phoebe provided a list of ingredients that Serperior likes, the list was as long as an A4 paper but at least Jamil has his options cut out for him. He doesn’t have to guess and waste any food.

Serperior mostly kept to itself and wanders around the dorm, inspecting its surroundings. Kalim tries to hug it but it just wraps its body around him and places him a few feet away before slithering off. Serperior will feel terrible if he smacks the sunshine boy away, so it places him at a good distance.

Jamil often sees it staring at him, its sharp eyes resemble his own. He never expected to have it get attached to him in a rather proud way. Everywhere Jamil goes, Serperior follows at a distance and there were rare moments it coils near his bedroom door, and Jamil walks out one morning only to fall into its coils. This strange behavior was suspicious at first but then Jamil learned to get used to it. Serperior is a curious one but then he thinks its more tolerable than Kalim.

Speaking of Kalim, Serperior sensed that most of Jamil’s stress comes from Kalim being a goofball that he is, so it catches Kalim and puts him in a coil hold when he’s about to do something reckless.

Rook + Oricorio

“Oh my! Such grace and beauty you possess to dance with excellent skills! Wait, you mean to tell me it had four forms? I would like to see it, please show me”

He spotted the dancing bird Pokémon in the field when they were having a PE class. Oricorio was in its Pom-Pom form and doing a cheer dance to motivate Grimm to fly better. He couldn’t help but approach Phoebe and ask her about Oricorio.

Needless to say, he was very interested. A creature that has four different forms that represents a different environment? It was like a fox having more than just a winter coat. He asked to see its other forms, it would be tiring to have it change forms constantly so Phoebe just brings out Rotom to show him the pictures of the Oricorio forms. Rook admired the pictures and each one gave off a different kind of beauty.

Oricorio, being a simp for pretty boys, took a liking to Rook. He was just so charming, Oricorio does its happy dance and follows him whenever it sees him. Phoebe once asked him if he can keep Oricorio company for a few days, he accepts the offer and he brings it to Pomefiore. Oricorio also liked Vil and Epel due to how charming their looks are, Vil is fine with it as long as it isn’t a troublemaker while Epel is kind of bummed out when he thinks it likes him because of his fragile looks.

The moment Rook was shown its changed forms in person, he is taking out his camera and is taking burst shots from all sorts of angles and lighting. Out of all the four forms Oricorio has, he loves its Baile form the most, the way it dances with embers around it in a display of passion and power. He looks forward to Phoebe asking him to look after Oricorio again.

Ortho + Emolga & Pachirisu

“Hey! That tickles, big brother you should try and pet them! They’re like those plushies you sometimes order in your room. Isn’t it like having your favorite plushy as a pet?”

Emolga and Pachirisu are both cheeky Pokémon and a duo for trouble. Emolga and Pachirisu were seen making student’s hair go static and stick out with small electric waves.

Ortho spotted the two behind some bushes and immediately approaches them, this is the first time Emolga and Pachirisu were caught off guard and startled. Their electric attacks don’t do much to Ortho due to his robotic circuits, if anything he considers it as some form of tickling.

Ortho thought how cute they looked and they resemble plush toys in his brother’s room. Emolga and Pachirisu was weirded out by Ortho at first but his cheerfulness was infectious and it didn’t take long for them to treat him as part of their group. Whenever Ortho passes by, the two would pounce on him and swing from his arms and legs, Ortho likes this game, he finds it useful to use his scanner to see where they might pop out next.

One time, he took them to see his brother and they made his hair stick out. He was startled but Ortho found it amusing, he got to see what would his hair look like if it stuck out. Emolga and Pachirisu still do their pranks but its less due to them wanting to find Ortho first.

Lilia + Dragapult

“A prankster and yet you dote on the little ones on your horns? We might be cousins from a distant world, fufu~ Let’s go scare Sebek some more!”

Dragapult pranks Sebek a lot, poor boy gets it from almost a lot of Pokémon. It once shot a Dreepy in his shirt causing him to squirm and try to get it out, he looked like he was doing a crazy monkey dance. Lilia appreciates this little prankster and he would join it in tormenting other students but mostly Sebek because his reactions were very amusing to watch. The two even went and started a pranking competition where they tally their number of pranked students for the whole month.

Lilia was allowed to play and hold the small Dreepy that reside in Dragapult’s horns. He melted at the sight of the little cuties playfully tussling his hair, which gave him an idea to mimic Dragapult’s horns(?) With an easy hair growth potion and a LOT of hairspray, he came to school with his hair in Dragapult’s style.

The sight alone in Diasomnia sent everyone, including Malleus into a stunned silence, Dragapult added fuel to the flame by letting the Dreepy reside in his hair for the rest of the day. Crowley saw Lilia and mumbled how the trends have gotten crazier every day. Cater took pictures and he laughed at the sight because it was so outlandish. Kalim was confused but precious boy still appreciated his hairstyle nonetheless. The perfect chaotic duo.

[ayuki-ikuya]

Fellow Piers simp with a trainersona here and a separate oc with Rai: ✨Go for it homie✨ Go absolutely ape! Tell us about her

OKAY

so I've tried doing research about Johto before writing about her since I have little information about Johto.

Johto is based off from Japan (it's more eastern qualities) while Kanto was a more westernized Japan (if you watched Geisha, it shows the transition from Japan transitioning to more western style after the war.)

So the name Katsumi was given. I believe her name meaning is "eternal beauty" but I'm not sure.

If I were to describe Katsumi, she'd be a Ninetales or a Fox. She has this air about her that draws her in, it's soothing even. But as she battles, she's more two faced than she seems, being more mocking and maybe even animalistic than her kinder self.

She does restrain herself from her more dark side, because a common rule as a maiko and geisha, is to always look and be pretty to capture the attention of others.

Katsumi is based off from the Kimono Girls in Johto, the Kimono girls are actually Maiko's as they tie their obi's sash long while normal is tucked in or tied short (same with a Geisha's) however, in Pokemon, they don't wear heavy makeup that way they can battle appropriately while still maintaining looks.

Since I'm basing Katsumi from Maiko's, she learns various arts, from dance to music to cooking. And of course, even when away from Johto, she still practices dancing (she prefers dancing over music) which has caught several pokemons attention in the past.

Her Johto team consists of:

Lucario

Gyrados

And Chansey.

Her Galar team will be:

Gyrados (from her Johto team)

Eevee (who will evolve into Umbreon)

Deino (who evolves into zwelious then Hydregion)

Munchlax (evolves into Snorlax)

Kirlia (evolves into Gardevior)

And Puncham (evolves into Pangoro)

I won't disclose when she catches them (which will be in the story I'm writting) nor their abilities and move sets. I can tell you that Katsumi favors Dark Types.

Katsumi makes her first appearance in the Gym Battle Opening Ceremony! Her exotic looks catching many of the people's attention.

Having to fight the Yell team since they were blocking Budew Inn, she does her first official Pokemon Battle in Galar with her Gyrados who swept them away with Twister!

Katsumi calls out her pokemon rather eloquently. Like, "Let's dance amongst the water, Gyrados", Katsumi is a lover of drama and theatrics, so she likes to put on a show which is apart of her two faced-ness.

If I were to place Katsumi as a Game Character, she'd be an Easter Egg and a very Hidden Boss. The main Characters wouldn't be able to fight her unless level 100 as the final boss is also level 100, meaning she's far more challenging than she looks in the beginning.

You'd be able to fight her in the tournaments after becoming a Galar Champion (beating Leon) but because she makes rare appearances, it's hard to fight her. If Leon and Katsumi ever get matched up, it usually ends in either Katsumi winning or a draw depending on ALL of your Pokémon level. (All 100 = Katsumi winning)

Her relationships would mostly be the children of the house she moved to as a tenant (which is in the same place for the Opening Ceremony hence why she hasn't caught any other pokemon in Galar yet)

Katsumi prefers pokemon over people. People means maintaining herself to appear appropriately and having to be more polite than she wants to do to etiquette. While with pokemon, she can bond with them more easily through being herself (her more rougher side).

As for her league cards, she has two special league cards which is dependent on which version you're playing.

Sword version is her more wild side, showing her face during her battles (more on Leon or Raihan's battle since her face shows more during their fight)

Sword version notes: seeing the ever so gentle Johto girl being fierce to rival Raihan is an odd sight, but pleasant to finally see a crack in her ever so pretty mask.

Shield version gets her more softer side, showing her dancing in a field without knowing about the picture.

Shield version notes: A picture that was taken in secret, you can see how gentle she is with how she stands, the pokemon around her watching her still form. How can someone be this elegant?

Her normal League Card is just the standard card but she angles herself towards the left (our left mind you) with her head angled towards the camera with a serene smile.

As for her relationship with Raihan and Piers, Raihan was intrigued by her, knowing the Dragon Type master in Johto, and seeing her appear on Pokegram every once in awhile (until she got Kirlia) sends a shiver down his spine since he can sorta get a feeling that she's hiding more than she seems.

Piers never met her, but has heard of her from Team Yell and Marnie when they met up in Spikemuth. When Katsumi appeared herself, he nearly choked seeing a "Pretty lil' dainty thing in this dump". his words, not mine. But because Piers oh so happens to be a dark type gym leader, Katsumi had immediately grew attached to him which shocked a lot of people.

Katsumi, the goddess from eastern lands, paired with THE Piers? The shock was an understatement.

Piers did appreciate her adoration to dark type pokemon though. And her need to be on the same level as him in battle as it was the Johto way to be fair.

If we wanna dive into the romance interests then:

Raihan is absolutely clingy to Katsumi and always wants to fight her. It's his way showing how devoted he is to her by challenging her to fights often after training and resting. And he hopes Katsumi would notice. If we went into a more NSFW style, Raihan is the epitome of clinginess. Because he's so tall compared to Katsumi, he'd use his jacket and put it over her, forcing her to either poke her head out to see or to try and escape which ends up him wrapping his arms around her. And when he does capture her, Raihan would drag her to a more secluded area and start marking her neck with bites and hickies. If he gets REALLY worked up (specially after a battle against Katsumi) he'd take his coat off, wrap it around her, tie the sleeves and then sling her onto his shoulder and with his long ass legs, he'd be heading to his apartment.

For Piers, he's not really affectionate or seen as affectionate, but he would often be near Katsumi whenever they were both free. Whenever he is affectionate he'd wrap an arm or two around Katsumi and bring her closer to him. For NSFW, Piers would be slightly clingy, but not as bad as Raihan since Piers is busy with being an artist (music artist btw) and training Marnie to be a gym leader. But whenever they're together, Piers would be resting his head on Katsumi's shoulder or head depending on their sitting position. Anytime Katsumi gets a call or goes to escape somewhere, Piers would grab a hold of her chin and kiss her rather passionately, which would leave Katsumi breathless since Piers literally has a long tongue, and he uses it. If Katsumi is still out of it (or continues to try to escape), Piers would take her to his place or to the campsite.

Katsumi has long black hair which reaches to her lower back, having four beauty marks total on her face, two right below her right eye (our left), one below her left eye (our right) and one at the right corner of her lips (our left).

(I think of drawing as a mirror, if you draw a character's face you have to think about the blemishes placement. If their back is to you, then it's both of your rights and lefts while facing each other is their left is your right and their right is your left. Sorry if it's confusing.)

She has black eyes (whenever in an intense battle, her eyes darken with no highlight making her appear soulless but it just means her facade is cracking) and thick eyelashes, her lips are painted red on her bottom lip while the corners of her eyes are touched with a rouge since she is a Maiko Trainer.

(I made up that Kimono Girls are Maiko Trainers, meaning they wear less makeup and have a battle/formal kimono, a traveling kimono and sleep wear. Normal Maiko's wears the standard makeup and wears more formal kimono's. Maiko trainers require to wear a sort of eye shadow at the corner of their eyes in replacement for the lack of white makeup on their face, it is to signal other Maiko's what status they are. If they wear red/rogue eye shadow, then they are an advance/master maiko trainer. If blue, then they are an intermediate. If pink then they are a beginner. Maiko trainers also have to wear certain color palettes to signal what stage they are which often correlates to their eye shadow. Since Maiko's in general wear lighter colors, they wear pastels or just a light shade.)

Katsumi wears a light pink kimono that fades to a light red at the ends of her kimono. Her obi sash being a deeper red while her obiage is white. Her nagajuban is red as per tradition, her pocchuri buckle is silver flowers, while her okobo shoes still maintains the red straps and still contains bells in them.

Fun fact about Maiko's, Maiko's are usually 16-20 years old mainly because Maiko's would choose to marry around that age, while Geisha's would have to retire or runaway (depending on time period) to marry. Geisha's aren't allowed to have a spouse, the most they can have close to a spouse is an escort.

THIS IS ALL FOR NOW! I'LL PUT UP SOME DOODLES ABOUT KATSUMI (WITH AN OCCASIONAL RAIHAN/PIER OR TWO)

[blouisparadise]

Another incredible year of fics is complete!

This list is always nearly impossible to make, so keep in mind that this is just a small selection out of hundreds of incredible bottom Louis fics that were posted this year. We hope every fic writer feels appreciated because your works mean so much to this fandom. And we hope there will be even more amazing BL fics coming out in 2020!

The fics are listed by length and we included AO3 usernames and links to the writers’ Tumblr accounts if we could find them - so please go give these people love! And give love to every other writer who wrote a bottom Louis fic that you read and enjoyed this year.

All Bottom Louis Fic Fest fics - click this link to the December BLFF masterpost!

This list would be twice as long if we included all the fics for the Bottom Louis Fic Fest, so we’ve decided to instead simply link to the December masterpost of BLFF fics. These fics are ALL favorites of ours this year, so check them all out and give them love!

That Summer Feeling by laurelhips / @laurelhips | Explicit | 2093 words

"It was still a lazy summer evening, the sun was still floating in the sky and the balcony window was letting in a warm breeze. Harry thumbed at Louis’ hipbone, easing his lips off Louis’ skin just to mumble “Turn over, darling.” Louis cracked a small smile, turning over slowly and revealing the back half of his naked body. Harry’s tongue felt too big for his mouth. He swallowed as he took in the sight. He’d never get tired of this."

How Easy You Are To Need by sweetums / @darlou | Explicit | 2356 words

Note: This fic is a sequel to this fic.

A day in the life type of drabble where Harry returns home after a business trip to his boy and a surprise visit from his niece.

Fine Line by Speechless | Explicit | 3281 words

This is just a tiny fanfiction that in my head was really just a Survival Instinct spin off, but then became a thing of its own.

No One But You Got Me Feeling This Way by runaway_train / @runaway-train-works | Explicit | 3787 words

Harry is well aware he should be studying or watching T.V or cleaning the kitchen or doing literally anything from a list as long as his arm instead of this, but he is. The list of reasons why he shouldn’t be doing this is probably at least double that, but here he most definitely is. He’s sitting on his bed, legs straight out in front of him, back propped up against the headboard and some fluffed-up pillows and his MacBook is resting on his thighs. His jittery fingers drum lightly on the edge of the keyboard as he stares at the tiny digital clock in the top right hand corner of the screen, willing the seconds to tick by faster. He wants to get into this and get it over with in equal measures.

Like Sangria by Harryskiwiposes / @hadtobelou | Explicit | 4152 words

As he looked up to the ceiling he imagined what it would feel like to have this man all to himself, all night long. He wanted the man in his bed, spread out underneath him, his skin begging to be kissed by a little more than just the sun.

Harry let out a small chuckle at the thought because he hadn’t even wanted to come on this beach vacation in the first place - he had wanted to go sightseeing in New York City. However, Niall and Liam had outnumbered him and so two days ago they had all boarded a plane to Jamaica for a lads holiday celebrating Liam’s thirtieth birthday.

Digging his fingers into the man’s hips, Harry sent a silent prayer up to the heavens that he was currently not sightseeing in New York and was instead on his way to hooking up with the sexiest man he had ever encountered.

Bad Idea! by rina_a / @lougendarey | Explicit | 4247 words

“I’m gonna ruin you.” And words had never felt so real in his life. Harry was going to ruin him in every way and Louis knew it. He had memories scattered all throughout his brain of the pain and pleasure of being destroyed by Harry. The feeling of ecstasy he was currently experiencing outweighed how much it was going to hurt in the next morning when Harry vanished. He was melting under Harry’s touch and that was the only thing that mattered. He could feel Harry’s smooth and strong biceps under his hands as he arched his back against the car door, unsure if he was leaning into Harry’s lips or moving away from them.

Can You Feel The Fever by delsicle / @emperorstyles | Explicit | 5113 words

Note: This fic is a sequel to this fic.

Tour has Harry exhausted. Luckily exactly what he needs is waiting for him in his Sacramento dressing room.

Gotta Catch 'Em All by larryent / @larryent | Explicit | 5186 words

Louis loves Pokémon GO, he gets a little crazy and ends up ramming into a guy. Harry gets mad, calls him a brat and treats him like one. Oh, and they're in central park.

I'm Slipping Under by purpledandelion / @purpledandelion | Explicit | 5351 words

Note: This fic is a sequel to this fic.

What better way would there actually exist than starting it filthily with Louis falling apart on his tongue? Nothing else could have surpassed that.

Nothing.

That's what Harry had thought at first, at least.

Just Fuck by rbbsbb / @rbbsbb | Explicit | 5565 words

Louis’ so drunk off Harry, though—even more than all of the drinks that he’s had—that he doesn’t even want to look anywhere else. He’s dying for it, for Harry to hold him down and fill him up, mark him inside.

Burnt & Tied Up by tilthesundies / @tllthesundies | Explicit | 6327 words

Come to the show tonight, Harry told him. Begged him. Pleaded with him.

Louis isn’t doing this for him.

Act Out | by feermartsant / @boldbabe | Explicit | 6721 words

Harry leans forward so he's closer to Louis's ear, and murmurs, "If I was your husband, I'd never let you out of my sight."

It’s ridiculous. He is his husband. There’s hundreds of photos, and official papers, and rings, and two babies with the last name Tomlinson Styles that prove it. But it’s also possessive, and hot and Louis doesn’t know what he was expecting when Harry told him he wanted to try roleplaying a little, but so far he’s not complaining.

Kisses and Coffee Breaks by youreyesonlarry / @youreyesonlarry | Explicit | 9350 words

Midterm season was finally here and all Harry wanted to do was study, however his boyfriend, Louis, seems to have a better idea.

Tattooed Heart by KrisStylinson / @zourry-a | Explicit | 10035 words

Note: This is a sequel to this fic.

“Is that fucking real?”

Harry grins. “Feel for yourself.”

A curious hand comes to trace over Harry’s chest, sighing in awe. “Harry.”

He watches him as he does it and wishes he had a camera on him, because the sight of Louis’ dainty hand caressing the beautiful L written in intricate cursive right over Harry’s heart has to be the single greatest thing he’s ever seen.

“Like it?” he asks.

“Harry,” Louis repeats, suddenly digging his thumb into the skin as if it was going to disappear at any second—it wasn’t, something Harry’s tattoo artist made sure of. “That’s—that’s permanent.”

“You’re permanent,” Harry replies, simple as can be.

Little White Lies by wickedarcher_08 / @wicked-archer | Explicit | 10450 words

Louis makes an off hand comment in an interview then comes home to find Harry has laid his old braces out on their bed.

All The Strings Attached by floweredhalo / @floweredhalo | Not Rated | 10517 words

“He wasn’t good enough for you anyway, H,” Louis says and continues eating. Harry’s still reeling from the fact that Louis is jealous. Part of him wants to prove that Louis has nothing to be jealous about, that Harry is fully Louis’ and no one else’s. The other part wants to punish Louis for acting spoiled. But Harry can’t act on either urge, he tightens his hand into a fist in his lap instead.

“No, he wasn’t. He didn’t quite fit the job.”

“Harry, it wouldn’t be a job to date you. It would be lovely,” Louis says, almost in a whisper. They’re sitting closer, Harry just now notices. Louis’ body is completely angled towards Harry and Harry’s body is not far behind.

Your Sins, My Vices by Jennifer_Kaid | Explicit | 12582 words

Louis hates soulmates. Harry has waited his whole life for one.

This Glorious Mess by theweightofmywords / @sunflowerrlouis | Mature | 14260 words

His head lolls to the side, and his eyes float open to focus on what used to be his bedside table.

It’s empty now, devoid of the framed photo of the two of them. And Louis knows that he has no right to feel hurt, but somehow, this only confirms what this really is.

“This is the last time,” he cries, his voice breaking both from pleasure and pain.

“I know, baby,” Harry breathes, burying his face in Louis neck.

Pleasure Over Matter by summerwine / @smrwine | Explicit | 15204 words

Harry is a bit out of his element, and an unsuspecting stranger provides him temporary relief.

Everywhere And Nowhere by 2tiedships2 / @2tiedships2 | Mature | 16547 words

Niall took a seat and said, “Apparently Louis’ downstairs neighbor is a fan of giving Louis creepy gifts. Maybe I should go introduce myself and tell him that Louis actually prefers food.”

“What has he given you?” Liam asked.

Louis shrugged as it were no big deal. “There was a rabbit’s foot keychain on the door a little after he left from introducing himself and there was a small teddy bear sitting by my door tonight. Obviously I can’t prove it’s from him, but they seem to have his scent. I could be wrong though.”

“Wow,” Liam said, looking deep in thought. “That’s old school.”

“What’s old school?” Niall asked. “Giving creepy gifts?”

“I’ve never known an alpha to do it, to be honest, but he’s courting you.”

Louis couldn’t contain his look of disbelief directed at Liam. “He’s courting me. Like some sort of romantic shit they’d do in the 1800s or something?”

Tonight's Not Over (Come Over And Stay) by louistomlinsons / @microlouis | Explicit | 16690 words

Zayn doesn’t say anything for a moment, pausing and worrying at his bottom lip. Finally, he asks, “Have you heard that Cox guy is coming out with a new song?” Louis freezes, fingers hovering over his keyboard where they had been typing his password. “No, I hadn’t,” Louis says truthfully. “Where did you hear that?” “Tell anyone this and I’ll kill you, but I’d consider myself a big fan,” Zayn says. His face doesn’t change in expression, completely serious as he admits this to Louis. “Big fan? Like run a blog and everything?”

I Been Feeling High When I Touch Your Body by notasawrap / @notasawrap | Not Rated | 16946 words

Harry is a boxer, Louis is an architect and Liam is the worst cupid that could ever exist.

The Post-War BP by jaerie / @jaerie | Explicit | 17732 words

The eight year war has left the country’s birthrate severely stunted with a lack of virile alphas left to bring it back up. To ensure the survival of the country, the government opens The Breeding Program where young omegas can apply to carry an alpha’s child in exchange for benefits. Louis’ family is struggling and the BP is one of the only ways to secure a roof over their heads. Harry was drafted at the age of eighteen and spent six years of his life defending a country he doesn’t recognize when he returns home. The government made the bed but it’s Harry that has to lie in it.

Be Mine, Dear by louisgrindsonharry | Not Rated | 20104 words

It really wasn’t fair. He was the oldest of all of them. He’s the one who dreamed about being bonded his whole life, while Liam laughed at the idea, until he met Sophia. Niall had always been indifferent, but when he met Heather six months ago, everything changed for him. He quickly went from being the only omega around two alpha’s, to the odd omega out. And it really wasn’t fair, because Liam and Niall both still protected him just as much as the did before, just as much they do their new mates now, but he was still bitter about it, so he’d pity himself as much as he wanted.

Deflower Me by thelesserneptune / @quelquesetoiles | Explicit | 20154 words

Everyone is 19 and horny, and Louis just really wants to get fucked by Harry.

Going My Way by jacaranda_bloom / @jacaranda-bloom | Explicit | 20261 words

"Hey Harry. Really sorry to do this to you but an emergency has come up with Vera’s mum and we’ve had to jump a flight home. My mate Louis is going to take over my LYFT clients while I’m away. He’s got my car and my phone and everything else. Hope that’s okay. He’s a good guy and I think you two are going to get along brilliantly. Catch you soon, Benny."

Drunk in Love (Last Thing I Remember) by MrsStylinson / @lovehoperomance | Mature | 22102 words

The one where Louis wakes up, naked, in a stranger’s bed and has no idea how he got there. Maybe it’s foul play. Maybe it’s just the kindness of a handsome stranger amused by his drunken antics.

Etched in Salt (Is a Cathedral of the World) by HelloAmHere / @helloamhere | Explicit | 24416 words

Note: This fic has mentions of BH. This fic is locked and can only be read by AO3 users.

Louis asks for very few things in life, and they are: to solve cases, to keep bad people from doing their bad things, to get good coffee, to go home to a spacious apartment with nobody else in it, and to manage his stupid telempathy powers with minimal interference. And now he’s stuck in a tiny cabin in a snowstorm in the middle of god-awful-nowhere with Harry Styles. Because of course he is.

Welcome Back From The Friend Zone by 2tiedships2 / @2tiedships2 | Mature | 32354 words

The one where an idea to create a fake wedding with the sole intent to receive gifts from billionaires took a turn no one, but also everyone, saw coming.

Close to Nowhere by angelichl / @angelichl | Explicit | 34589 words

Louis and Harry are psychics who kind of hate each other. They go to Tennessee to investigate a haunting.

Let Me Feel Your Heartbeat by angelichl / @angelichl | Explicit | 34572 words

Harry is 98% sure Louis hates him. So he feels like his bewilderment is justified when the omega offers to help him through his rut.

If I Stay by Rearviewdreamer / @all-these-larrythings | Mature | 37226 words

Harry and Louis agree to a temporary arrangement that Harry can't seem to walk away from no matter how many times he tries.

The Only North Star by Skyebyrd / @skyebyrd | Explicit | 39299 words

A story told in two parts.

Part one: Harry meets Louis at NYU and falls immediately and deeply in love, despite Louis’ overbearing boyfriend. Harry interns at the local Daily Bugle as part of the Superhero/Crime Liaison Unit and learns how to study and track superheroes and villains and the damage they inflict on the citizens of NYC. Harry does what he believes to be the right thing. Come the end of the school year, he uncovers more than what he cares to know.

Part two: Louis gets bitten, gets sick, and gets strange powers (which come with…strange responsibilities). He has to learn to control them while also helping NYC’s most famous superheroes to fight off NYC’s newest, baddest supervillain. He also has to figure out his slowly detangling relationship with Harry. He only has the summer to save the city, and Harry.

Latibule by thelesserneptune / @quelquesetoiles | Mature | 49946 words

A Spirited Away AU of sorts where Louis just wants to heal and be left alone, only for all his plans to be destroyed by the hands of an infuriating British God.

Dog Got Your Tongue? by seducedbycurls / @seduced-by-curls | Not Rated | 50914 words

Louis is a dog walker.

Waiting for the Tides to Meet by nauticalleeds / @nauticalleeds | Explicit | 59637 words

Soulmate AU. Everyone is born with heterochromia — one eye is their own eye colour, while the other is the colour of their soulmate’s. It’s only when they meet their soulmate for the first time that their own eyes match properly. After a hazy night at a frat party, Louis wakes up to blue eyes and the shocking realization that he had met his soulmate, without any sober recollection. Seven years pass where Louis comes to terms with the fact that he’ll never know who his soulmate is. Then one fated summer, a beautiful green-eyed photographer arrives at Louis’ workplace, with promises of endless laughter and a familiar feeling in Louis’ heart.

I Just Wanna Get Back to Us by louiesunshine / @louiesunshine | Mature | 62131 words

Where Harry and Louis are divorced soulmates who are seeing each other for the first time in two years.

Swallow The Knife by whoknows / @crazyupsetter | Explicit | 76168 words

“You came,” Louis says, still breathless, clinging to Harry, uncaring that his sweat is getting all over Harry’s presumably clean dad shirt, or that he’s making Harry hold up all of his weight.

“Of course I came,” Harry says. He shifts, one arm curled underneath Louis’ arse, the other spreading wide in the middle of Louis’ back. “If I ignored you every time you pissed me off we would have stopped being friends a long time ago.”

Louis already knows that, of course. It doesn’t do anything to stop the pleased squirm in his belly every time Harry proves it, though. They fight like nobody’s business, both of them too stubborn to pull their punches when they’re arguing, and it used to get them in trouble, but they always make up.

Adrenaline makes Louis loose-lipped, and they both know it. He tightens his arms around Harry’s neck, buries his face in his hair. “I missed you,” he confesses, quiet. “Doesn’t feel the same up there by myself.”

Consequences by allwaswell16 / @allwaswell16 | Explicit | 78566 words

Two years ago Harry let his powerful family come between him and the love of his life, something he deeply regrets. Louis has tried to move on from their devastating break up. Sometimes, he even thinks he has. It only takes one moment to freeze them back in time.

An amnesia AU.

Like Water Over Fire (Like Water On Fire) by MCSSymon / @mcssymon | Mature | 119264 words

Prince Harry has 46 men and 13 weeks to find the husband of his dreams, Louis has a limited amount to time to live out a royal fantasy. They might just be exactly what the other needs.

Tainted Saints And Velvet Vices by Toomanytears / @toomanydreamers | Mature | 126057 words

A self-fulfilling Hogwarts AU in which Louis is new to seventh year and Harry is the resident devil-may-care Slytherin set to make his entire experience a living misery. Due to less than favourable circumstances they’re forced to forge an unwilling, tentative relationship for their own survival. Repressed emotions, decidedly unromantic ballroom dancing, Triwizard Tournament tasks, creative jinxes and twilight flying above the Forbidden Forest ensue.

Inevitable by Etoilenoire | Mature | 185917 words

AU where Louis and Harry used to be more than friends, but everything had to change the day Harry introduces Louis to his new girlfriend.

Check out our other fic rec lists by category here and by title here.

[wolfsgravity]

[Giovanni and I in his office at Team Rocket HQ. Giovanni at his desk, though he hasn’t written anything in a few minutes now, lost in thought. Remee is sitting on a pile of pillows in the corner, reading a book while Jigglypuff sleeps beside them]

*Giovanni sighs and looks up from his paper work, lowering his pen. His eyes land on Remee, and his jaw tenses with the nerves of what he feels the need to say*

Giovanni: My love?

Remee: Hm?

*Remee places a cute little Sylveon-based bookmark in the book and sets it to their side, putting their full focus on their lover and Boss. Giovanni’s eyes linger on the bookmark for a second, almost out of a fear of looking into Remee’s face. The two may be lovers, but he often finds himself struggling between his ambition in the Team and his love for Remee, who just so happens to be his subordinate. He doesn’t have guilt about the power imbalance, but he does fear the risk on their life, as well as possible insubordination from the rest of his team if he looks too soft. He shakes his head to clear it*

Giovanni: We’ve spoken before about my desire to promote you…

*Remee tenses, Jigglypuff stirring awake beside them. The bond between those two was enviable to the Boss, though he wasn’t sure if it was because his only emotional attachment to a Pokémon is his Persian or because he wants Remee all to himself*

Remee: Sir, uh, Giovanni, uh. Work talk, I’ll say Sir. Sir, I know we have, I just don’t feel—

Giovanni: You don’t feel you’ve proven yourself in the field, and I’m pressed to agree.

*silence falls. Jigglypuff glares, but Remee puts a hand on the Pokémon’s head to calm it. They agree, why would they be mad?*

Giovanni: As much as I love having an intern such as yourself, I have been battling with myself over my duties as a powerful leader and my duties as your partner.

*more silence as he thinks, but Remee slowly pales as time passes.*

Remee: S-sir, I believe you’ll do the best for… for the glory of Team Rocket…

*Remee trails off, their assumption swimming in their eyes as they blink down at the floor in front of them. Giovanni nods, then visibly blanches as their assumption becomes clear to him*

Giovanni: No! I mean, yes, but my dear, it’s not coming to that! Come here.

*the Grunt stands on lead limbs and shuffles over to the desk, tears already falling down their cheeks. Giovanni gently grabs their waist once they are in reach and pulls them to him, Remee standing and Giovanni remaining seated for now. His thumbs rub soothing arcs against the sides of their shirt as he looks up at them. They simply sniffle*

Giovanni: I love you. I’m too selfish and cunning a man to just let go of a prized possession like you, you should know better than to assume I’d throw you away. Especially since you see my video calls to Jesse and James so frequently. If I haven’t shucked those idiots from my organization, and found use for them, I’m certainly not going to send you away.

*Remee hiccups but gives a little smile, reassured. Giovanni smiles back, heart genuinely warmed even with the little sunshine he’s gotten. The tension eased, he realizes that maybe he approached the topic wrong for once, too stuck in his Team Rocket mind and not finding the balance between his two worlds. With a good-natured sigh, he slowly takes the hand closest to his desk off Remee’s waist and rests his elbow on the top of the desk, propping his head on his hand in a sign of thought, but a more casual one than his body language before. He continues looking up at the face of his love, who’s only slightly preoccupied with wiping their face off*

Giovanni: I do, however, find myself in a conundrum.

*Remee finally fixes their gaze fully on him, interest piqued now that their brief cry ended. They take a second to enjoy his almost coy-looking gaze through his eyelashes, probably not an intended effect of the angle at which the two are looking at each other. “He’s always so handsome”, Remee finds themself thinking, before realizing he’d prompted a response*

Remee: Y-you? In a conundrum? Color me surprised.

Giovanni: Heh. Don’t be sarcastic with me, it makes me want to distract us from the conversation.

*Remee blushes, Giovanni blinks at his own uncovered brazenness*

Giovanni: .. I have to find a way to make you useful to the organization, not just to me. I adore having you all to myself, but the Admins have the audacity to question your place in the organization. You struggle stealing Pokémon, but not because you are an incapable Trainer by any means.

*Jigglypuff trills in the corner and Remee’s smile widens bashfully*

Giovanni: What can I do with a competent Trainer that wants to help me and my goals, but can’t hurt or steal Pokémon?

*He ponders in musing silence for a bit, the hand still on Remee’s waist gently guiding them to sway back and forth in front of him. Remee basks in the gentle affection while he thinks, then, realizing he actually can’t seem to come up with an idea on his own, begins to think themself*

Giovanni: ..If you meant nothing to me, I’d merely find a way to manipulate you and keep you around that way.. but you don’t mean nothing to me..

*he smiles dotingly*

Giovanni: You light up my life like the sun, moon, and stars all put together. How dare you make this such a challenging task with your cuteness?

*Remee giggles shyly, using a hand to rub their cheek to try to cover their face. Giovanni smirks, his head tilting further against his hand while he allows himself to enjoy the moment. Remee finally regains their thinking capacities and clears their throat, causing Giovanni to raise an eyebrow*

Remee: Well, uh. I’ve got maybe an idea? I know our operations mostly involve stealing Pokémon for power and profit, and those nasty scientific experiments that you couldn’t pay me enough to witness. (‘Mhm’) Well. I’m good at raising Pokémon. If we had operations that bred powerful and rare Pokémon, I would be an excellent choice to hatch and raise those Eggs. With the right direction as to what the Pokémon needed to be raised for, I’d be fantastic. I’d teach them the right moves, make them as profitable as I could if we needed them sold, or teach them loyalty to Team Rocket, instead of to an original trainer, from the day they hatch so they could be used in high-profile agent schemes.

*Giovanni blinks. There have been Daycare schemes from time to time, but he’d never considered breeding Pokémon. But with a pair of the right Pokémon, a seemingly unending supply could be begotten. And he’d never trust a normal Team Rocket agent for a job like that, because they’re only as trustworthy as they are loyal, and he’s seen a large number of cowards and brigands come and go. But Remee.. he laughs, a relieved sound*

Giovanni: I’d never considered such operations. Team Rocket grunts are not particularly known for patience or warmth, which is what I’d thought would be demanded of such operations. We’ve always stolen what we need. But.. you do have a knack. I’d trust Pokémon raised by you would lay their lives down for our agents. Flinch all you want, I apologize, I’m just thinking in business again. We’d also fetch a pretty penny for rare hand-reared Pokémon.

*Giovanni stands, taking Remee’s now beaming face in his hands. The two kiss, both letting out sighs of respective relief. Persian, from its fancy cat bed, makes a soft yowling sound, and Jigglypuff trills again. After a few seconds, Giovanni and Remee part, both mildly breathless*

Giovanni: Have I ever told you that you’re a genius?

Remee: I’ve never really given you a chance to

Giovanni: Regardless, you are. I don’t know what I would do without you. This way, the Admins won’t take out their bad faith on you, and I have a willing agent to try out a potentially lucrative scheme. I love you so much, I will begin remodeling any remaining Daycare under our control to send healthy Eggs to HQ. In time, I’ll find you a proper base to operate in.

*Remee looks excited enough to cry. Giovanni kisses them once more before gently ushering them towards the door with Jigglypuff floating out behind them. He almost feels like he has to do this without them in the room, like it will somehow be a romantic surprise if he does*

Giovanni: Go busy yourself and Jigglypuff, or better yet, take the rest of the day off. I will see you at home later tonight. Be safe, as always.

*The two share quick ‘I love you’s before he strides back into his office to make arrangements.*

[defeatedbyamerechild]

Here is my evil team organization. Remember the droog  and child evil team, I asked that. So here is my grunts for Team Myriad. These children are obsessed with fighting trainers and never talk at all. Speak in rhynmes or numbers. Well sometimes but not often. Are they friend or foe?

“These child like grunts have mysteriously appeared in the Galar region. Their motivations and faces are unknown. The thing they love the most is pokemon battling.” Utilize in  normal, fairy, psychic, and steel. But will use other types if they have to. 

So do you like this concept? Also any criticisms for my drawing or improvements. Like their appearance, looks, or design? Would this be an interesting team?

PS I wonder how the pokevillains  would react to this team. Intrigued or confused? Love your blog.

----------

I forgot about this sorry!!! I saw it the other day and forgot to reply.

Anyways, I really like the designs you have there and I can definitely see the inspiration from the Clockwork Orange aesthetics there. I like that they don’t talk and use rhymes, this is cool dialogue. It is, to me, relatively hard to picture it in an official Pokémon game because I don’t think Nintendo would want it to look too creepy and I can definitely picture this content in a creepy pasta aesthetic that I... don’t think Nintendo would wanna approach. It would be doable, though. And of course, as fan-content, even the creepy pasta style or other horror-related styles are valid. Anyway, it’s a versatile concept that could be used in many ways from just mysterious to actually scary.

I really like the masks, at first I was a bit confused because I thought these were their faces, before reading what you wrote there, but as masks these are neat. Also they are something I can see Nintendo going for, I mean, they literally gave Allister a creepy mask so why not?

Overall, yes, I like it! The concept is neat! As a basic premise for a team that works well for me, even if their goals are unclear. You are basically making the “unclearness” part of the concept. Also really like how you wrote their description in a Pokédex-style, like... the text really reminds me of Pokémon stuff. :3

The only thing I’m still kinda curious about is how this could be developped in order to remain interesting throughout the whole game/story (if a game/story were to be made with it of course), because in terms of narrative, just “it’s a mystery” with no further development can become rather boring or repetitive, or seem kinda disconnected from the rest of the narrated events (depending on how it’s done). Also it could be a problem if the mysterious events are not explained *at all* in the end (half-explained and up to interpretation endinds are good alternatives in my view, but, at least for me, “we’ll never know who they were after all” tends to be a disappointing ending).

Basically, I like the overall idea you gave me, there’s nothing here that I think is a bad idea, but I would find it hard to use if I were to make my own story with them because of the problems above. Maybe you have all that in mind and you already have a superb story with them that works perfectly well, in that case, great, I just wanted to mention what I thought of the concept in practical terms as a (bad) fanfiction writter. XD

BUUUUUUT of course I’m not the executive producer of Game Freak receiving the concept for the next game that I should review or anything, so all this is irrelevant. Even if you didn’t develop their story any further, that’s totally fine. You don’t even have the obligation of thinking this through and answering these questions, you can definitely just make your concept and visuals and not actually use it in a game/fanfiction/comic etc, that is perfectly ok. I’m just a boring person graduated in Language Arts that will go and make boring analysis of stuff. XD

About the art... I think it looks really cute! I don’t wanna go and criticize stuff based on style, like “the heads are too big, limbs are too thin” or something like this, because this is just your style. It’s an aesthetic choice. I could say that the heads are larger than what they usually are in Pokémon games, but honestly, so what? You don’t have to emulate the Pokémon style in order to create Pokémon content. So yeah, you can play with proportions as much as you want and since the drawings seem consistent in terms of symetry and style, that’s just ok.

That said, my only criticism might be...

1. The female grunt’s legs seem a bit too long (even considering the stylistic choices, I’m comparing her body proportions to that of the male grunt). Basically, if you put that same lenght of skirt on the male grunt’s body, it would go down to his socks, but on her she still has the same amount of skin + socks + boots under all that, you see? So maybe make her skirt shorter or make her boots and socks shorter... Or give up on showing parts of skin. It’s easy to lose the sense of proportions under loose clothes like skirts, but if you trace the body silhouette under her skirt, that will probably become clearer. It’s always nice to try and make a full silhouette or skeleton before drawing clothes, in my opinion. (Also this could have resulted from the angle you took the picture! could be just a distortion on the photo that made it look different, so if that’s the case, ignore this XD)

2. This could be a stylistic choice too, but I’m gonna mention it just in case, the limbs look kinda “noodle-ish”. This can also influence your measurement of body proportions like “where exactly does the arm bend”, “where exactly is the knee”, this sort of thing... Of course, as I said, it could just be style, like Adventure Time, for example. They just have those noodle arms. But since I don’t know if that was a conscious choice or not, I decided to mention. Lots of people (including younger me) start by drawing arms (and hands!) as a “continuum”, so if the arms are streched, they are just one straight line from shoulder to hand (some people will even make it shoulder to fingers and put the hand in the noodle pack). And if the limbs are bent, the elbows and knees, fingers and wrists, fold in not very precise places. However, I found it easier to draw arms, legs and hands by subdivinding these limbs into smaller sections. It’s easier to keep them proportional and understand how they bend. You made their arms fully stretched in a way where elbows are not visible and, in the girl specifically, seem a little bit short? Again that can defintely be used as stylistic resource, so only consider this tip if you’re aiming for a more realistically-proportional style.

3. You may wanna make the male grunt’s feet a bit larger? Also they are inclined and I don’t know if that was done intentionally or not. (or if it was just the paper bending a bit when you took the pic).

I’m like... not a professional artist or a teacher or anything. I’ve literally never studied art, so when I give out these feedbacks, they are usually based on my own life-experience and what I’ve learned drawing. But it’s always hard to set the line between style and mistakes. I was once told that you must first learn the basics of actually proportional anatomy before you can start playing with it, so when people ask me for tips, I try to stick to the things I’ve learned myself while developing my knowledge in anatomy and proportions. Not that I am like.. an expert, of course. So yeah, basically, don’t take my criticism as the ultimate truth, I’m still just learning just like you. ^^

About suggestions and improvements: Maybe add something to their canes, on the handle part? And maybe adding detail to their boots... But only if you want to of course. Also, have you thought of eyelashes for the masks, like... eyelashes on only one eye or something? This wouldn’t be for the grunts because I think they look great just like that and are already complex enough, but you might wanna use that for admins or something? Specially if it’s eyelashes on the lower half of the eye.

I also would like to say that I couldn’t read everything you wrote, sorry.... I’m bad with handwriting! So forgive me if I said anything redundant that you had already put in the info. ^^

And finally... I don’t usually make reaction things in submissions, only during ask events, so forgive me for not giving you the villains reactions here. I hope you understand. ^^

SORRY FOR THE SUPER LONG REPLY AND FOR THE DELAY, I HOPE YOU FIND WHAT I SAID INTERESTING AND USEFUL MAYBE?

[thebladeblaster]

Pokémon: the Vanguard Descends

Chapter 38 The Grand Kakusa Celebration (cont.)

“I can see my image of victory in sight, Misaki.”, Yuri smirked as they sweat dropped.

“That image will shatter before my calculations. I have memorized the perfect angle to shoot at.”, Misaki replied as she made a slam dunk.

“There’s more to dunking than silly numbers.”, Yuri replied as she shot a basket, also getting a slam dunk.

The game only continued to intensify as Aichi stepped back nervously out of blast range especially as insults started being thrown.

“They really are great friends.”, Koutei commented.

“Yeah...sure…”, Aichi replied unsure.

“My sister is always intense in any kind of competition.”, Gai said, talking about Yuri.

“I can see that…”, Aichi replied, sweat dropping.

“They're so cool!”, Emi gushed with reverence, making Aichi laugh nervously.

“I hope Emi’s not that scary when she’s older.”, Aichi thought.

Later, they got some food from the stands and ate it while walking around. One of the food stand people flinched when Kai narrowed his eyes while he watched them cook.

“Don’t give the poor guy the death glare, Kai.”, Miwa said, sweat dropping.

“Not enough sauce, needs more onions.”, Kai replied blankly.

“What are you a food critic?”, Miwa questioned.

“Tastes good to me.”, Emi said as she took a bite of a Tentacool dumpling.

“Bro seems to be enjoying it too.”, Kamui said as they heard Aichi’s stomach growl.

“Aichi why does your stomach sound like a hungry Tyranitar?”, Miwa asked.

“Well, he was asleep for a whole day so he hadn’t eaten. Also, psychic powers can be very draining.”, Misaki explained.

They looked over to Aichi who was eating surprisingly a lot though he was very mannerly while eating. Rather than engorging himself like Kamui or Gouki or Morikawa. Aichi’s Pokémon were back out dining on some of the food too except Alfred since he’s a ghost, but he was still out though. They were surprised about how mannerly Soul Saver was while eating.

“I didn’t realize how hungry I was.”, Aichi replied in between bites.

They sweat dropped as they saw a bunch of neatly stacked empty bowls in front of him and he just placed another after finishing.

“That must be some draining stuff I’ve never seen you eat that much in your life.”, Emi replied, sweat dropping.

Another stack was started after he finished his next bowl.

“Well, he is a growing boy he needs to eat with how tiny he is.”, Yuri commented.

“I’m not that tiny.”, Aichi replied, blushing embarrassingly.

“I’m surprised that Soul Saver has such good table manners. She’s like a baby.”, Miwa said.

“She learned from copying Aichi.”, Alfred explained.

“So, Soul Saver learned from mimicking her mommy.”, Kamui replied.

“I keep telling Soul Saver to call me daddy not mommy. She knows I’m a guy, but she still calls me mommy.”, Aichi replied.

“Haxorus. Haxorus. Haxorus. (Regardless you're still mommy.)”, Soul Saver replied.

“Lycanroc. Lycanroc. Lycanroc. Lycanroc. Lycanroc. (You just give off more of a mother vibe, Aichi.)”, Wingal added as Aichi’s blush deepened.

“Aww! She calls you mommy that’s so cute.”, Yuri teased.

“I’m not gonna lie, when we first met I thought you were a girl.”, Gouki admitted.

“I’m not that feminine looking right Emi?”, Aichi asked, with his face red in embarrassment.

“Uh…”, Emi trailed off awkwardly, looking away.

“Emi!”, Aichi replied dramatically, feeling deep betrayal now extremely red with steam coming out of his ears.

“There’s nothing wrong with looking a little girly. A surprising lot of girls are into that.”, Miwa assured.

Ahmes patted Aichi on the back as he sulked while still eating. Gancelot patted Soul Saver on the back who also felt embarrassment because of the link.

“Aichi seems very close to his Pokémon.”, Gai commented.

“Yeah, he’s always been weird like that. Though, I think it’s pretty cool he can understand them.”, Emi replied.

“Okay, operation: hook up commence!”, Rekka said behind the bushes wearing a disguise.

She had on sunglasses and hat as a disguise. Suiko was with her with a similar disguise.

To be continued...

[samsonet]

There daily I wander as noon rises high,

This is how Raihan becomes Bede’s brother.

Title from Robert Burns’ “Afton Water”

*

Raihan isn’t used to watching the finals from the sidelines.

He tries to relax in his league-assigned seat, still feeling like any moment now someone will come to ask why he’s not on the pitch.

With every word the commentator says, the sense of wrongness only grows stronger. It should be him out there. It should be him planting his feet into the grass, summoning sandstorms and roaring at his opponent. For the past eight seasons, it has been him in that position, him on the pitch, him and Leon —

“Let's give a round of applause for Galar’s beloved champion, Gloria!”

The earth orbits around a new sun now.

“And on the other side of the pitch, the elite gym leader, the champion’s rival himself—”

Raihan—

“— Bede!”

Raihan sighs, not entirely sure what he’s feeling.

“A bit of sadness,” a voice says, “mixed with some excitement at seeing what these young ones can do. And some pride, too, perhaps.”

Raihan blinks, but he’s had enough experience with Opal to not jump at her sudden appearances.

“Why are you here? I thought you retired.”

“I did!” Opal hums happily. “Now I’m getting to enjoy my retirement — and what grandparent wouldn’t want the chance to see their grandchild battling the champion?”

Bede’s been training under her for what, three months? She jumped into the fairy godmother role pretty quick, didn’t she.

Opal says, “Perhaps it was a bit reckless of me to declare him my successor so quickly… But sometimes you can look at a person and know that you were meant to help them.”

On the pitch, Bede’s Rapidash lands a critical hit. Bede grins. Gloria grins. Raihan is abruptly reminded of his sixth battle against Leon, the first time he’d tried using a weather team. Leon won, of course, but instead of the usual sportsmanlike handshake, he’d given Raihan a full-bodied hug. After all, being the champion’s rival meant he was the champion’s friend, too.

Opal says, “Still, I do worry about whether I can properly care for him. I’m willing to listen to any troubles he has, of course, but he is a young boy, after all. He may not feel comfortable sharing everything with an old woman like me. If he had an older brother, perhaps...”

She looks at him meaningfully.

Raihan knows better than to offer his help; if the fairy queen wants a favor from him, she has to be direct about it.

But Opal doesn’t ask. She seems to feel like she’s said everything that needs to be said, and she merely sits back and watches the match.

The battle ends.

Gloria does not hug Bede.

*

Raihan pays more attention to Bede after that.

He would watch Bede’s matches anyway, because it’s only a matter of time before they’d have to face each other in a ranking tournament, but now Raihan’s observing the kid himself instead of just his battle style.

Bede’s history is no secret. During his challenge, the league milked the scrappy-orphan angle for all it was worth. A kid who came from nothing, fighting to earn a place in the world… It tugs at the heartstrings. Theoretically, anyway. While the PR people tried to spin Bede’s proud demeanor as a defense mechanism, a lot of the fans found challenger Bede unbearably smug.

Raihan grew up in a loving upper-class family with both parents and two sisters, so he doesn’t have family issues as an excuse. As a challenger, he’d been smug because he really thought he was all that. Well. He still is kinda cocky, and he still sorta is all that. Because the fans like it, because there’s nothing quite so satisfying as seeing a cocky bastard get taken down a peg or two.

The fans won’t get to see Raihan taken down a peg anymore. Sure, he’ll still be losing, to Gloria and Melony and who knows, maybe Bede too -- but that mixture of pride and humiliation is reserved for Leon and Leon only.

But Leon isn't the champion anymore.

Gloria seems to like battling Bede. Bede seems to like battling her. Their inexperience is obvious, though. Their battles seem to be fun and challenging for both of them, which is the important thing, but they haven’t quite gotten the hang of the performance part yet.

If he had an older brother, perhaps…

Is it an insult, that Opal would be so transparent in what she wants from Raihan? Or is it a show of respect, a way of saying that she’s not going to try to manipulate him? But even transparent manipulation is manipulation all the same…

Raihan leans back, putting a hand over his mouth in thought. He’s not the champion’s rival anymore. That was his place in Galar, his place in the league. He may still be the strongest gym leader, but the role feels empty now that Leon and Piers are gone.

Would the role be just as fulfilling if he became the big brother to the younger gym leaders?

He can try.

*

The next time Raihan sees Bede, it’s at one of the champion’s invite-only tournaments.

The champion has invited all her rivals, and between the battles the four of them stick together in the same corner. Raihan’s curious what they’re talking about, of course, but he gives them space. None of them are his little siblings, after all.

When the tournament finishes (with the champion victorious, naturally), Raihan walks out with the other participants.

Leon and Piers are waiting in the lobby. Raihan gives them a wave and they wave back, but it’s obvious they’re not there for him.

“Lee!”

Hop gives a running jump into his brother’s arms. Marnie has a more dignified motion as she walks toward Piers, but Raihan sees the way her mouth curls up at the corners. The little champion gives a wave goodbye to her rivals; she probably has some business to attend to in another city.

That leaves Bede as the list of the four, looking vaguely upset but not saying anything about it.

So Raihan does. “Hey, Leon, Piers. Whaddya say we take our little sibs to get something to eat? They fought hard, they deserve it. My treat.”

Piers raised his visible eyebrow, but he nods.

It’s Leon, always perceptive, that asks: “Our siblings?”

“Yep!” Raihan looks to Bede, reaching out a hand in invitation. “Bede, can you do me a favor and be my little bro for the afternoon? Leon’s not in the league anymore, but I still have to beat him in something.”

Bede gives him a look of offended confusion. Then he looks toward Leon and Hop.

Raihan sees Hop’s face, how he wears the same expression Leon does when the sponsors force him to drink chia juice.

Raihan sees Bede’s expression change, how his frown slowly turns into a knife cat smile.

Bede nods, reaching out and holding Raihan by the wrist. “I would love to.”

*

They go to McDucklett’s, one of the few places where people don’t look twice at a bunch of regional celebrities sitting down to eat.

Raihan’s the only one who orders a full meal. Leon and Piers get salads, the tossers. Hop and Marnie both want kids meals, with the potential tiny plush toy of a gym leader’s signature Pokémon. And Bede…

Bede’s staring at the menu, seemingly overwhelmed by all the choices. Has he really never been in a McDucklett’s before?

Oh. No, he probably hasn’t. Between the orphanage and Rose, fast food is probably the last kind of food he’s ever had the chance to try.

“Why don’t I get you some nuggets?” Raihan suggests.

Bede nods vigorously.

Raihan orders him a kids meal as well, and quietly asks the employee for a set of utensils to go with it.

While the grownups are eating their meals, the kids start by opening their toys. Hop has a tiny version of Milo’s Appletun, while Marnie gets Melony’s Lapras. By some coincidence or luck or fairy magic, Bede’s toy is an Alcremie.

He picks it up with something like reverence, lightly tracing its frosting swirls with one finger. He looks around the table, probably trying to find someplace to set it down, then puts it in his lap.

With the toys out of the way, Bede pulls out his box of nuggets. He stares at them as though unsure how they’re supposed to be eaten.

Raihan is torn between laughing at the kid’s hesitation and feeling sorry for him. Eventually, the latter wins out.

He swallows the bite of his burger and says, “There should be a knife and fork in there if you need ‘em. I know they’ve got a weird texture, but they’re pretty good.”

Bede follows his directions, spearing a nugget and taking a delicate bite.

Hop snorts. Raihan glares at him and is gratified to see Leon is giving an identical look. Big brother instincts.

The rest of the meal passes with minimal drama. Bede seems satisfied with nuggets and apple slices. That’s good. Raihan doesn’t want to imagine what would happen if Opal found out he’d sent Bede home hungry.

After the other pairs say their goodbyes and head out, Bede turns to Raihan and asks, “Can you watch Alcremie while I wash my hands?”

“Sure.”

Bede sets the doll on a dry spot on the table. “I know your hands are greasy, so don’t touch her. Just make sure nobody else takes her.”

“I got it, don’t worry.”

Bede heads to the restroom. Raihan examines the toy Alcremie, leaning in close to look in its sewn-on eyes.

“Is this what you wanted, Opal?” he asks. “Am I doing well?”

The Alcremie only stares back. It has a knowing smile on its face.

*

When Bede comes back, he insists that Raihan wash his hands, too. Raihan thought it was a euphemism, but no, apparently the kid really doesn’t like the idea of greasy fingers.

After that, he’s ready to go home. Raihan offers to at least walk him back to the station. Bede accepts without protest.

It’s when they’re halfway there that he says, with forced aloofness, “I know you’re only doing all of this because Opal told you to.”

“What?”

“Don’t lie to me. She told you I needed a big brother, right? She told me the same thing. Well, I don’t need anybody. I’m a gym leader now. I’ll be fine even when Opal… even when she d…”

And, oh shit, that is not something Raihan even thought of when wondering why Opal would ask him for this. He’s stunned speechless for a moment, mouth opening and closing as he tries to say something reassuring but not patronizing.

At last he says, “I mean… even if she did ask me, I asked you along ‘cause I wanted to. You’re going to be around for a while, right? It’s just smart to try to get on your good side.”

Bede doesn’t say anything to that.

Raihan continues: “And if I may — I gotta say, I see a lot of myself in you. The elite gym leader who rivals the champion? That’s been my life since I was sixteen. If there’s anyone who’ll beat Gloria, it’ll be you.”

He knows the counter the moment he says it, already imagining Bede saying the way you beat Leon? with a sneer on his face.

But to his surprise, Bede does not say that. He only tilts his head, his expression somewhere between flattered and confused.

Then he says, “If you want to stay on my ‘good side,’ you should take me to McDucklett’s again sometime.”

*

When they reach Ballonlea, Opal is waiting. She greets them with a smile, one long-nailed finger beckoning them in.

[kob131]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XgKp9jj4Is

*sigh* Great, yet ANOTHER ‘Let’s rewrite Adam’ argument made by miss ‘It’s hard to keep track of RWBY characters like Zwei.’

“Degredation of Adam’s character from Blake’s mentor to an abusive ex to a whiny incel who makes insults like it’s his Pokémon name.”

A. “Blake’s mentor” is not a character. It is a description and not even a bare bones one.

B. What is the difference between an abusive ex and an incel exactly? They’re both used to describe despicable people in relation to romance.

C. That is not what incel. You’re using it as a generic insult and thus that last description may as well say ‘Adam bad’ for all the substance it has.

D. Adam always made stupid insults. People laughed at his voice in the Black Trailer and in Volume 3 for fuck’s sake.

And E. What WOULD you make Adam that wouldn’t just make him every generic freedom fighter?

“We’re gonna drop the abusive angel completely and go with Monty’s original plan-”

Done.

You just killed your own video by assuming a dead man’s intention with no fucking reason other than ‘mouthpiece.’

I have no reason to accept anything you say in good faith after this. Before you say that you wanted to change as little as possible then change a massive aspect while using a corpse as a meat shield from criticism.

You are owed nothing from this point on.

‘You don’t doodle your abuser in your notebook-”

Unless, you know, think about them. But hey, why use your brain when you can rely on the inevitable RWBY haters to drown out all criticism?

‘The abuse angle is the worst explored in the show-”

Proof?

No?

Considering your history, I HIGHLY doubt that.

“*Insert Adam into the Volume 2 train fight instead of the WF Lieutennat because he was an out of nowhere threta*”

...

So the Black Trailer and the Volume 2 finale never happened...or you’re an incompetent idiot.

“It gives the scene more weight because we know who Adam is-”

We also know who the WF lieutenant is AND we don’t waste an important character for a worthless fight that amounts to nothing as the train fights ultimately mean NOTHING.

Congrats, you made Adam worse because his first in series fight had him giving a good performance. Here, he can’t even kill Weiss (and in fact, as I am about to explain, he’d get CURB STOMPED by Weiss.)

Just as well, you’ll need to completely change his weakness. Adam is a glass cannon, he can dish out a lot of damage and move quickly but one good hit knocks him down. Makes sense since he’s not exactly big and buff and he can’t fight back when someone isn’t intimidated by him. It also makes him dangerous to Yang as she relies on taking hits at first which she can’t do with Adam because she often flings herself in ways that make dodging impossible. It also makes sense why Blake can fuck him over and why she can get fucked over: she’s also fragile but evasive which connects her with Adam too.

But say he fights, I dunno, someone who can zip around quickly in a manner that he can’t block the attacks and would logically get fucked over quickly by. Like say, a Semblance that zips you from spot to spot like WEISS’. 

Yeah, he’d lose in an instant against Weiss because he’s never seen to be able to block attacks moving that fast and he’d get fucked over quick. So you’d need to up his durability and suddenly he loses a logical weakness that is represented by his personality, connecting him to Blake, basically making him a Yang clone and now you need a NEW weakness. Suddenly a lot of Adam’s interesting elements SHATTER.

This is why Adam rewrites suck. None of you think through your writing. You make the same mistakes that Miles and Kerry made but with less experience, less insight and less care and then pile on EVEN MORE flaws.

Worst of all, the bullshit you give about ‘knowing his threat level’ ignores other factors like appearance, attitude and fighting style. Oh wait, I know why. If we include those, the WF Lieutennat suddenly becomes a clear threat. His appearance is distinctly different from the WF goons, with his tall and thick frame indicating he’s strong and durable while his choice of weapon shows he would have a strong but slow fighting style and his attitude shows that if Weiss loses she could very well die a PAINFUL death by a sadist chainsaw wielding terrorist. (’More tension’ my ass.)

You throw out so much just for ONE point that was accomplished in the original anyway. What the fuck else are you gonna muck up?

“Have adam be there to show Adam working with Torchwick-”

Which Blake would already assume since the WF is working with Torchwick and Adam LEADS the WF. But I guess Blake is too stupid to do basic math.

“Then have Adam let Blake run away-”

WHAT THE FUCK?!

Run to where?! They are in an enclosed space! Adam should be chasing after her! He has every reason to chase after her, both personal and professional!

“Then we can have dialogue that goes something like this in Volume 3: Adam: “I don’t want to have to fight you but I will if I have to. Blake: No no, Humans aren’t bad people! Adam: I have seen what they can do. Your family kept you safe. I wasn’t so lucky-”

Cool, so he’s every generic ‘sympathetic’ freedom fighter now.

Instead of being a deconstruction of the noble wounded freedom fighter, showing how such a person would be impossible for such a situation from the extremity of the harm done to him, the manipulation by his superiors for their own ends and his own faults, he’s just a generic pity bag now.

No wait, a SHITTY generic pity bag now because in the Black Trailer, he explictedly tried to blow up innocent people on a train. Blake even questioned him on it and he said ‘So?’. That isn’t the reaction of some noble but misguided person, that’s the reaction of someone so far off the deep end they’ve lost basic sympathy.

Trying to make him out to be noble here would be like trying to make me believe Raven is this secret loving mother or this protector: their actions in the past CONTRADICT this.

‘But Twiinks never said that-’

Her choice of words did. The words you choose your characters to say speaks about how we are suppose to view them. Adam’s word choice in the original communicates a dangerous sadism and madness built from pain and a lack of emotional maturity. This version communicates a sadness stemming from a supposed kindness that Adam SHOULDN’T have.

‘But it tells us what they’re stances on humans are-’

So did the original while also why we should route for Blake over Adam (i.e. she’s still sane and tries to be kind while Adam has lost it and is being cruel and vindictive.)

We literally lost something here.

“He truly feels like this is the only way to help Fanaus-”

So we're now working off the assumption he cares about the Fanaus and not just himself and his own pain, deconstructing how real life movements become corrupted from their original purpose by focusing on their own personal pain than a universal kindness.

Cool, so Adam isn’t Adam anymore.

“Adam still stabs Sienna but it’s about the orgnazation instead of a lame power grab-”

*rolls eyes*

I really hate these rewrites. Why do you even bother with Adam if you tear out the character and insert someone completely different? 

“Adam is remorseful, Sienna says something like ‘I would rather die than give you the organization’, and Adam apologizes. Perfect scene.”

A cheesy line that rings hollow and more OOC. Wonder-fucking-ful. I also looked ahead and saw that you are changing Adam’s character short to be about getting his scar. (More on that mess when we get to it.) So Adam being used by Sienna to push for her more violent agenda over Ghira’s peaceful one, something used by the show to show we shouldn’t be shitty to each other (AKA A core theme) still exists. Meaning that what should be Sienna paying for her sins by having the very person she used to push her agenda take it to its logical extreme, kill her in turn and destroy her work is just nonsensical pity begging.

I also assume Adam declaring his idea of Fanaus Supremacy and basically quoting Mein Kampf is still in the show since you never address that. Cool, so either I pity a woman who screwed this man’s life or I pity Furry Hitler. *slow claps*

“During the Volume 5 fight, his breaks and we see his scar-”

...

I’m not even surprised by how dumb this shit is. 

Adam’s scarf reveal in Volume 6 was wonderful and one of the best moments in the show. For so long, we saw Adam as someone who was destructive and hateful for no reason and right there, the audience is forced to see that while his actions are inexcusable, his reasons are very human and very real. He’s not a monster, he’s a person whose consumed by pain. At the very end of his life, Adam wasn’t a monster: he was a sorrowful reminder of what pain does to a person.

What does the scar reveal do here? ... Nothing. Seeing his face in full means nothing. Twiinks doesn’t even say anything about it. It’s just there because she wants a look of remorse and thinks that can’t be accomplished with the mask. Even though we could see him cry or have a look of sorrowful anguish. Adam can emote fine without his mask.

I just-I can’t believe this.

”The Adam short is now instead of a bunch of emotionless fight scenes now about how Adam got his scar-”

...

Just more pissing on what makes Adam good. Yeah yeah...

The Adam short is not just a bunch of emotionless fight scenes. The fight scene you show (of Adam protecting Ghira) shows so much. It shows the struggles of the peaceful White Fang, it shows Adam being shocked at killing a human as he hadn’t fallen yet, it shows Sienna using Adam to push her violence without concern for his well being and it shows how he got it into his head killing was fine.

That was ONE scene. ONE. Your scar replacement as a whole would have less impact (as we can tell how got it from context clues) than ONE scene.

Are you guys getting WHY I hate rewrites of RWBY so much?

“Adam finds Oscar-”

If this doesn’t end with “and then he kills Oscar” I don’t care. Even this version of Adam would jump at killing a human and would have no idea Oscar knows Blake.

And it doesn’t. Great. BTW, Oscar wouldn’t know about the plan at this point so him showing up at the CCT tower isn’t explained and this scene is pointless.

“Adam would show up at the CCT tower, killing the CCT guards while ranting about equality and justice. Blake jumps in, leading him away to the waterfall. She says ‘Adam, you’ve gone too far! You’re just as bad as the people who hurt you!’“

Gee, that wasn’t clear when he tried BLOWING UP A TRAIN FULL OF INNOCENT PEOPLE?!

Also, Twiinks tries to push this idea that Blake wants to reconnect with Adam (which makes no sense as she LEFT Adam).

“Now we have the decapitation scene-”

We know she’s not gonna die, the fear came from the destruction of beacon and Yang being injuried. Of course Blake isn’t gonna die here.

“-moved to a thematically appreciate moment in the story-”

Considering you didn’t give two shits about thematic before, why the fuck would I care now?

“-Yang isn’t involved as to not muddy how if it was self defense.-”

So Yang’s arc is just scrapped and instead of having someone around who went through similar shit as Adam with a similar mindset and personality to dislay how wrong he is, we have a far shittier version that doesn’t even serve it’s purpose as protecting friends and family is covered by self defense and the people who bitched now would still bitch because Adam dying is the issue, not self defense.

“We see regret in Adam’s eyes-”

Means nothing because he was just a loon at this point out of nowhere and he’s still a terrible person. See, the thing is you can give a pitiable side to characters like Adam but you have to accept there is still good reason to hate him. Trying to hammer sympathy at us is just gonna make him less sympathetic.

“We shouldn’t be developing the budding relationship-”

It wasn’t.

That wasn’t a fucking romantic scene, it was an emotional breakdown after a stressful 

“By making Adam an understandable character-”

This is perhaps the most insulting part.

Adam IS understandable. Just because you don’t sympathize with him doesn’t mean you can’t see how he became this way. He was enslaved at a young age, branded in a way that robbed him of so much, he tried to make things better but because of forces outside of his control and his own issues, he lost his way and became what made him: someone cruel and uncaring of others. And yet, even as he does terrible things, we can still see that even he is a victim of the world, lamenting his fall and who he could have been.

That is something that fits the tone of RWBY so much better than a generic freedom fighter turned crazy person. Not to mention all the brilliant details you scrapped for shallow and boring details that any run of the mill show could do.

You improved NOTHING here. You just turned Adam from an interesting deconstruction and a cautionary tale of what we can become to every revolutionary in western media which, considering America’s origins, are a dime a dozen.

I’ll say it again: This is why I hate rewrites. You didn’t put nearly as much thought and effort into the show as the creators did and yet you stand on their work, rot it from the inside and try pedaling a worse version because it fits some people’s delusions.

Every time I look into you Twiinks, you become worse. How far will YOU fall?

[allthephils]

Smart Casual

Word count: 2362 Rated E (smut)

This was written for @phandomficfests bingo for my chastity device square. I might have taken some liberties with the prompt. This is very much porn without plot.

Summary: Phil’s zipper is stuck.

Read on AO3

Shopping is best done in one’s pajamas. That’s always been Phil’s way. Lounging on the sofa is fine but he prefers to be tucked into bed with a hot cup of cocoa or maybe a glass of wine, and with Dan sitting next to him. A shirtless Dan, rambling on about whatever Subreddit or wiki page he’s landed on, is motivating. He wants to look good for himself but he also wants to elicit a very specific response from Dan. He’s always got heart eyes, even ten years later, the fans really are spot on about that. But there’s another look, a look that he does occasionally let slip on camera but is usually reserved for just the two of them. It’s a certain glimmer to his eyes, a parting of the lips, a subtle drop in the tone of his voice.

To be honest, he can see it anytime he wants. All he has to do is run his fingers through Dan’s hair, kiss his neck, whisper in his ear, guess what I’m thinking, Danny. Catching Dan off guard though, seeing that look in public or in the middle of the day, knowing Dan has to hold back, that is the ultimate victory. So, along with rainbow hoodies, and Pokémon t-shirts, he’ll shop for jumpers that hug his broad shoulders though he’d usually prefer them oversized. He’ll search specifically for black knit that’s soft but not too chunky so they don’t hide the subtle contours of Phil’s chest. He’ll angle the screen toward Dan for approval and wait for a grunt or a shrug or a hum. The hum comes when Dan’s paying attention, when he sees something he’d like to see on Phil.  

This time it’s not a jumper. Phil’s trying to break out of his black jeans rut and Topman has nice skinny grey plaid trousers. It’s like old Phil meets new Phil and he thinks he could maybe pull these off. They are way more fashion forward than he’d usually choose so he runs them by Dan and it happens. The hum.

“Yes. Those are a yes. Those are cool.”

“Really?” Phil says, clicking through the images, trying to ignore the model’s ass in favor of looking at the actual trousers. “You think they’ll suit me?”

“Absolutely.” He raises his chin to emphasize the next phrase he speaks, “Dat ass is going to look so fine in those.”

“I don’t know, they’re kinda smart for everyday.”

“Let that thicc booty shine Phil. It deserves to be showcased.” He’s back to reading about volcanos or nihilism or whatever.

“Okay, I’m gonna get ‘em.” And so he clicks and they’re on their way.

When the package arrives, it could be anything. It’s from Topman but that doesn’t exactly narrow it down. This is a big part of why Phil shops online. He loves getting packages, it’s like having lots of tiny little Christmases. Dan’s gaming but he watches from the corner of his eye as Phil works to free the box from it’s tape. After several minutes, Dan silently pauses his game, stands and heads to the kitchen. He returns with a pair of scissors, takes the box, cuts the tape, hands the box back to Phil, and sits back down to resume his gameplay.

“Ooh, it’s the plaid ones!” Phil laughs a little, “oh my god, what was I thinking?”

The game pauses again. “Let me see.” Dan turns to look at Phil as he stands and holds the trousers up.

“I’m gonna return them, they’re ridiculous.”

“What are you talking about?” Dan reaches over to feel the fabric.

“I’m gonna look like George McFly.”

“George McFly was low key hot. Try them on. Please? For me.”

***

“Hello gorgeous!” Dan sounds awestruck, dramatically stretching every syllable for emphasis. “You styled yourself. Well done, Phil.”

“I do have some sense of style, Dan.”

He wears a black jumper only because it's the one top he has that is solid black. He chose white low top trainers and no show socks channeling Dan’s ankle exhibitionism. He won’t admit that this style is really just him copying what looks good on Dan. This really isn’t him. He’d never wear this out and he still plans on returning the trousers. He did buy them to get a reaction though so he might as well parade around a little, give Dan a little taste of what it might be like to have a boyfriend who stays up to date with fashion.

“Yes Phil, show me those sexy ass ankles!”

Phil laughs, “Ass ankles? Okay Dan.”

“No really, this is the perfect amount of skin for fall, you’re ankles are hot.”

“Your so Victorian Dan, one glimpse of ankle and your all flustered.”

“Oh,” Dan gets up off the sofa and stands, hands on his hips. He looks Phil slowly up and down. “It’s not just the ankles.”

And Phil knows that’s true. He looked in the mirror before he came out to the lounge. The trousers are tighter than any he’d ever wear of his own volition. He feels a little trapped, squeezed into them. In any other setting, he’d be yanking the hem of his jumper down, trying to cover his pornographic bulge. It’s so embarrassing, walking around, looking like you stuffed a sock down your crotch. There’s really no hiding in these, he’s pretty sure you could make out the exact outline of his dick if you looked closely, and Dan is looking. Intently.

“Oi,” Phil says, “my eyes are up here.”

Dan clears his throat, feigning embarrassment, and rattles his head as if to snap out of a trance. Phil giggles. This is fun, totally worth the £65 and the short time spent totally constricted.  

“Give us a twirl then.”

Phil does his best fashion model twirl but Dan just swivels his finger in the air as if to say keep spinning. By the third spin, Phil is dizzy and giggling, “Dan! I’m gonna fall over!”

“Aaaaaaaaand stop!” Dan shouts and Phil freezes in place, facing away from Dan. “That’s the pose I was looking for. Yum.”

Leaning forward a bit, Phil wiggles his arse. Just as he’s about to laugh and turn around, putting an end to the joke, he feels Dan’s hands, both of them. They settle on his hips as Dan steps forward, pulling Phil close until there is no space between them.

Warm breath moves over the little hairs on the back of Phil’s neck and they stand on end. Dan’s left hand slides past his hip, finding his tightly wrapped bulge. There’s a long, slow exhale in Phil’s ear. “I really like these trousers, Phil.”

He’s squeezing him through the thin fabric and it feels way better than it should. It’s just those big hands and Dan’s soft, seductive voice. It’s the way he’d looked at him, the way he’d played. Phil knows he’s still playing. In a minute, he’ll step away, laughing and making fun of Phil for going quiet, for getting just the tiniest bit hard. You’re so easy Phil.

“No making me hard in these trousers, little Phil is suffocating.”

Dan doesn’t laugh. “Just returning the favor.” The unmistakable line of Dan’s hardening cock presses against Phil’s ass and he pushes back into that delicious feeling.

“Oh, you do like them.” He’s trying to sound nonchalant but Dan is squeezing and stroking and grinding and Phil is definitely hard now. He’s slipping into caveman mode. Clinging to the last of his resolve, he clears his throat. “Hold that thought. Let me get out of these.”

“No way, that’s my job.” Dan fumbles for the zipper pull and tugs but nothing happens.

“Unzip them, Dan, it actually hurts a little.”

“I’m trying. It’s stuck.”

“What?!”

“The zipper’s stuck. It won’t pull down.”

Phil swats his hand away and tries but it will not budge. He turns to face Dan. “When did you take your shirt off? And your joggers?”

“I was getting sweaty.” Dan says, stepping back to steal  another look at Phil.. “And I love being naked with you fully clothed, it’s hot.”

It is hot. All sorts of filthy things run through Phil’s mind, right alongside the thought that he’s about to lose a vital organ to asphyxiation.

“Dan, you look fucking edible but if I don’t get these off soon, I’m gonna cry.”

“Okay, okay. I got it.” Dan drops to his knees. This does not help the situation. He tugs and tugs to no avail, then leans forward and grabs the pull with his teeth.

“Are you kidding me, Dan?”

“It’s worth a try!” Dan’s voice is pitched up but then his cheek brushes the straining zipper and they both let out a groan. He does it again, properly nuzzling Phil’s poor captive cock and letting his hand resume it’s exploration.

Phil’s looking down at Dan’s brown eyes through those stupid sexy lashes when he starts kissing down the length of him.

“Dan, stop.” Phil says, deep and breathy.

He slides his mouth back up and the fabric is wet with spit. He pauses. “You want me to stop?”

There’s barely a beat before Phil says, “No. No don’t stop.”

Phil is gripping Dan’s hair and Dan is gripping Phil’s ass, pulling him impossibly close so he can wrap his lips around the head as much as he’s able. He sucks, determined to feel the shape of Phil despite two layers of fabric.

There’s a gasp and Phil’s northern growl comes on strong, “Fuck. Get up here, Dan.”

No sooner are they face to face then their lips crash into one other. It’s wet and eager, all tongue and teeth and frantic breaths. Phil’s fingers dig into the flesh of Dan’s ass, holding him against Phil’s grinding pelvis. His cock pushes at the zipper like a caged animal, like it could actually break free of its cloth prison, hulk style.

“Ow, ow, ow,” Phil says, moving his mouth over Dan neck. It hurts and not in a good way but the need for release is intense and that somehow translates as pleasure. Plus, he’s got Dan, naked and writhing like it’s all brand new, and that is unspeakably hot. He can feel that pretty cock of his trapped between them, working against his own and the thought of Dan’s nipples rubbing the soft, nubby knit of his jumper, it’s too much. He bites down on Dan’s neck, hard.

“Ah. Ahah. Fuck.” Dan sounds wrecked. He turns to face away from Phil and pushes his ass into him, moving against his cock with quick little bounces. Phil is dizzy from the visual and he scratches down Dan’s back in a show of appreciation. Dan hisses just before he practically cries out, “pull my hair!”

Phil can’t help but grin at the request made in Dan’s high pitched, totally gone sex voice. He pushes both hands into Dan’s hair and grabs handfuls. He gasps, his head pulled sharply back. Over his shoulder, Phil can see Dan’s flushed cock bouncing. It’s the cutest fucking cock and it looks so good waving around like that. He needs to touch it, he needs just a little more.

Phil walks them both forward and pushes Dan till he’s bent over, hands on the back of the sofa, knees pushing into the edge of the cushions. He lifts his hand to Dan’s mouth and he licks without hesitation. Phil can reach around now and take Dan in hand, stroking loosely once or twice before setting in to jack him off properly. He’s humping frantically, sliding the hard ridge of his dick between Dan’s ass cheeks, moving like some dog in heat. The thick sound of heavy breathing and wet jacking is soon interrupted by Phil’s uncharacteristic string of expletives.

“Fuck, ow, ow, fuck, fuck, ow, ah, aaaah, fuck.” With one last high pitched moan, he cums, hot and wet, right into his brand new plaid trousers. Dan’s still fucking into Phil’s hand so he reaches his free hand up to yank on his curls and that’s all it takes. He goes still and quiet as he spills over Phil’s fingers.

Slowly, Phil stands, holding his hand carefully so as not to make a mess of the furniture. He reaches down and wipes his hand on Dan’s discarded joggers and then flops down onto the sofa next to him.

“Aw man,” Phil says, looking down, “now I can’t return these.”

“You cheap bastard.” Dan’s eyes are closed, his head resting back, legs spread wide, enjoying the afterglow. “I haven’t even caught my breath.”

“Sorry, they just don’t suit me and they’re faulty.”

“Oh my god, fuck off, I will give you the 50 quid Jesus.” Dan sounds way too blissed out to actually be annoyed.

“50 quid?” Phil says, shocked, “Daniel, what do you take me for?”

They are quiet for a moment.

“They were 65.”

Blindly Dan reaches over, groping for Phil’s zipper. “Ew,” He says, feeling the sog of cooling cum that has soaked through.

Phil hisses, so sensitive after all that torture. Dan futzes with zipper a bit and with more room and less pressure, it opens. Phil sighs a deep, genuine sigh of relief. “Babe. Thank you.”

“Ow,” Dan says, sitting up, “I think you chafed my cheeks.”

“You brought that on yourself. Anyway, no way it compares.” Phil stands up, trousers open. He’s still in shoes so he toes them off and pulls off his jumper. “I’m so gross, come shower with me.”

The hot water is divine. Dan’s ass is a little red and raw so Phil gently washes it with his favorite vanilla body wash.

“I may be stuck with those trousers but I am never wearing them again.”

Dan leans forward onto the shower wall and arches his back, ass on display. He gazes over one shoulder seductively, batting his lashes. “You sure about that, Lester?”

Phil plants a playful smack on Dan’s cute booty, prompting him to turn around. They hold each other, feeling the warm water stream over and between their bodies.

“Okay, I’ll wear them for you but I’m not zipping them up.”

Dan’s voice is sleepy and relaxed as he murmurs in Phil’s ear, “Sounds good to me.”