#bhna nine

[imsosocold]

[sinceyousawvienna]

he’s my son

[gamblersdoll]

katsuki and kirishima taking you to the fair only revolves around mostly walking and maybe going on one ride— since neither you or kirishima like rollercoasters.

but really, their goals were to make you have the most fun, winning all the gifts that you could possibly want (or say ‘surprise me’ for them to choose) and katsuki knowing you— he gets a inflated bat that you can whack them with. (he immediately regrets it.)

but one thing that they wanted to see was how hard you can punch, yknow, those punching bag machines that show a certain level of strength?

so katsuki taps his card on the machine, having you to play only. “do it, no one is paying attention to ya.”

“kiri, help.” you whine, falling into the red heads arms.

“hey, its only one time you have to do this.” he snickers, high five given to katsuki. “if its low, its fine, but you know you can throw a decent punch!”

you sigh, whispering death threats to the blonde and he laughs of course. your arm cocks back, assaulting the poor ball and the scores go up to about eight ninety three. “can we go now?”

“eight ninety three?!” they both ask, looking at each other then you. “is the mutt feeding you some steroids?!”

“…no?”

“and you say you arent that strong..” kirishima mocks, patting your biceps. “damn liar.” he laughs when you start hitting him with the bat balloon, holding you by your waist. “love you too, dummy.”

[bibibbon]

You know? It's kinda of funny how LOV fans treat the whole "I want to be a hero for villains" of Shigaraki as something groundbreaking, when the same concept was already introduced in the series (and was done better) with Nine.

Unlike Shigaraki, Nine literally meet his team members when he saved their lives. In Chimera's case it was when a bunch of racists were about to execute him just for being a mutant.

Nine also was a hero for them in a more thematic level, as he not only save their lives but actually give his team mates a reason for live and fight. He offered them the chance to fight for create a better world. For me it's quite remarkable how Nine despite being a homeless and chronically ill person, go for save people he view as equally oppressed by the world.

He was selfless enough to sacrifice his own health using his quirk to save Chimera despite it was destroying his body, and without expecting nothing in exchange for share a dream Nine a hand to people at their lowest point.

That's much more of an "All Might for the villains" or whatever Horikoshi tried to make Shigaraki in the final moments. Or hell Nine even acts better as a foil to Deku in the sense both are selfless individuals who fight despite their bodies are crumbling, just for the save of the persons who are important to them.

How ironic is that Nine, the original movie villain that was supposed to be just a prototype for the "final villain" of MHA, ended executing the same themes way better than Shigaraki.

Hi @nyc3 👋

A main reason as to why people treat shigaraki's I want to be a hero for the villains ideology better than nine's is simply because I assume a lot of people forgot the plot of the 2nd movie or haven't read the one shot manga chapter mha leauge of villains undercover. All of this is a shame because I heavily agree that nine's version of I want to be a hero and hope for the villains is executed and built up 10000x times better than shigarakis and nine had a fraction of the screentime that shigaraki got which is saying a lot.

Actually rewatching the film and rereading the manga one-shot has showed me that nine and shigarakis arcs are pretty similar with nine's having a better execution and shigaraki having more wasted potential.

The movie sets it clear that nine and shigaraki are supposed to be foils for one another so it makes sense that they would share parallels. However, you would expect that by the time nine is defeated that shigaraki would naraatively prove to us that he is ultimately the better character but in truth he doesn't and nine's downfall by shigaraki ends up being quite disappointing to me.

Another problem within the narrative is also the lack of interactions that nine and shigaraki have. I think that nine is essential to helping shigaraki and start to infulence him to realise that he is just a puppet and should develop a goal outside of just destruction. If shigarakis goal stays as destruction then the destruction of what? Everything? And how would that benefit anyone including him?

Nine like you said meets his teammates and saves them. He sees his teammates suffer like him and chooses to help them and they choose to help him. There is a clear relationship being developed and all the characters come together for the same goal, with similar backgrounds and varying styles yet they work.

When nines team see him in distress they run to help him and vice versa. The team has trust and overall everything that a lot of the leauges dynamics and development lacks.

Nine seeks destruction but his path is clear. He seeks to liberate and let nature flow its course with the strong overtaking the weak and finally being leaders instead of feared and abused because they don't fit into the small little box that is the mha's status quo. Nine plans to get stronger while being fully conscious and knowing the consequences. He makes a logical and heroic decision where we see him realise that he is trading his own autonomy and agency in becoming a lab rat all in exchange for power and a slim chance at achieving his goal.

This is all contrasted with shigaraki and his actions. We don't see his goal of destruction develop into a much more consistent and precise idea like destroying the giver and status quo. We don't see shigaraki fully conscious to come to the conclusion that yes the doctor is evil but he needs power. We lack everything from shigaraki and the information of chapter 419 just makes his character worse as shigaraki was a lab rat through and through.

Horikoshi tries to make shigaraki the better character but nine outclassed him in every way possible from the traumatic beginnings, to the developed flawed goal and to the final bitter end where we see nine crumble due to various factors 1)shigarakis decay and 2) his illness whereas shigaraki dies due to afo still being a lab rat that fulfills his purpose.

All of this reminds me of the ask that said mha's manga ending is a sloppy edited 2nd movie ending (except I was only looking at it from a hero perspective but it even applies to the villains)

Nine deserved better!

[lees-chaotic-brain]

Angel (Ages 5-13)

Points in time through your friendship with Bakugou, from its beginning, to its transformation into love, to its demise. Inspired by Angel Pt. 2 by Fast and Furious (feat. Jimin)

Word Count: 2,655

CW: mentions of injury, some violence less than canon-typical though, reader uses female pronouns, hurt/no comfort, angst angst angst, mental health struggles, mentions of self-hatred

Part Two | BHNA Masterlist | Blog Navigation

When you were five years old you and Bakugou lay sprawled on soft green grass. You closed your eyes, the fading sunlight painted the inside of your eyelids a pinkish orange. Inhaling deeply, you enjoyed the peace and tranquility of the moment.

Just minutes ago, Bakugou had declared the trek up the hill a race and shot in front of you, determinedly pumping his legs in an effort to win. Screeching that it wasn’t fair, that he got a head start, you raced after him, catching him just in time to tie. The buzz of cicadas filled the heavy summer air swirling languidly through your neighborhood; the quiet soundtrack of summer.

Fluffy clouds painted pink and orange in the light of the sunset drifted high above you in the sky. At your young age this was the happiest you had ever been. After a long day filled with squeals of laughter, and getting into mischief with your best friend you were exhausted, but content. Suddenly feeling sentimental, you rolled over and poked your friend’s shoulder. Said his name once to make sure you got his attention.

And on the evening of that perfect summer day you extended your pinky and interlocked it with Bakugou’s, forever sealing the promise the two of you made.

“Hey, we’ll always be this happy, right? We’ll always be best friends.” 

“Tch. What, are you stupid? Of course we will. From now to forever.”

When you were seven years old the two of you had already made plans to become heroes and open your own agency together. And to Bakugou being a hero meant beating up any and all bad guys. Always winning the fight. Some boys stole your lunch money? Well then they were villains, and he had no choice but to take them on. So what if they were a few grades older than you? They were thieves and had to be punished. If he didn’t put them in their place, how could he call himself a hero? 

Walking across the uneven gray concrete behind the school, he approached the group of older boys and gave them his signature look. A promise of violence gleamed in his ruby red eyes as a cocky smirk pulled at the baby fat still adorning his cheeks. Calling out to the extras he got their attention before charging at them, sparks flashing in his palms.

When you found him later his clothes were disheveled but a look of smug satisfaction was painted across his face. Rushing over, you check him for injuries, brushing the dust and dirt off him and straightening his clothes. Other than a small red scrape on his cheek from skidding across the concrete and little burns on his wrists where the sparks from his quirk had burned him he appeared mostly unharmed. Suspecting the answer to your question but still needing to confirm your suspicions you demand that he tell you what happened. With an air of arrogance, he regales you with his tale of victory over the evil extras, hamming it up to impress you, carefully watching your reaction as he recounts his story.

After he finishes the tale, you sigh and tell him you wish he would be more careful. But he saw the admiring sparkle in your eyes as he told his tale. He knows that deep down you were impressed. And that’s enough for him. 

“You really need to think more often before you charge in.”

“As if, I’m gonna be the strongest, remember? No extra is ever gonna take me down.”

When you were nine years old it had become a running joke in the Bakugou family that you were ‘Katsuki’s angel.’ And although he always protested and fake gagged when his parents called you that, inside he secretly liked the idea that you and him were meant to be together. The first time Mitsuki called you Katsuki’s angel, it was Katsuki’s birthday, and Mitsuki was trying to wrangle him into a custom made suit jacket she had designed especially for him. Chasing him around the house screaming obscenities and calling him an ungrateful brat she tried to force him into his gift. Katsuki had been screaming back at his mother, hurdling over comfortable yet tasteful couches and using his quirk to evade her every movement. Then you walked in, and the second he noticed you Katsuki skidded to a halt, clamping his mouth shut at your disapproving look. 

Walking over to him, you cuffed him on the ear and firmly told him that he shouldn’t call his mother an old hag, and that he should be grateful she went out of her way to make such a nice present for him. Opening his mouth to retort, all it took was one disappointed glance from you and he was turning to face his mother. Grumpily he muttered out a half-assed apology and allowed himself to be tucked into the perfectly tailored jacket. It was a smooth, rich, smoky gray with orange embroidered accents. Honestly it was so nice it seemed a little obscene to give as a gift to an unappreciative nine year old. But you were entranced by it.

Stepping closer to Katsuki, you couldn’t help but run your hands over the front of his jacket, marveling at the texture and the intricate work of the embroidery. Not noticing the pink flush that tinted Katsuki’s cheeks, you ran your hands along his chest admiring the jacket. “It’s so pretty.” You muttered it quietly under your breath, but Mitsuki heard it. Perking up, she announced that she was so glad that you liked it, because she had a matching dress made for you! Surprise!

Quickly waving your hands and telling her that she didn’t need to do that, protesting that you couldn’t accept a gift that nice (your parents had raised you to be a polite young woman, and while they failed in most regards you had still managed to retain some manners) and that she should give it to someone else. Insisting that the only person the dress was meant for was you, Mitsuki dragged you upstairs and gently helped you into it. It was a lighter shade of gray than Katsuki’s suit, and the accents were a paler shade of orange, closer to the color of the sunset than a violent shade of neon orange, but it was undeniably a match to Katsuki’s jacket. 

Self-conscious because it was your first time wearing something that luxurious, you anxiously asked Mitsuki if she was sure she was okay with you having it. Reassuring you that she had made it for you and that you looked beautiful she led you downstairs and called for her son, asking him what he thought of it. 

Stomping angrily out of the other room and demanding to know what was so important he stopped when he saw you, his eyes softening as he gaped. Looking down, you nervously played with the hem of your new dress. When he didn’t say anything, you apologized, saying that it wasn’t right for you to match with him because it was birthday and you didn’t want to take any attention away from him. Turning, you began walking up the stairs but paused when you heard him speak. Quieter than you had ever heard him speak before, he told you that he didn’t care about stupid things like matching, and that it suited you. The last part was spoken in a near whisper, then he scoffed and stormed away, loudly griping about how annoying all the females in his life are.

Later that night when Mitsuki was talking to Masaru, she mentioned Katsuki’s behavior towards you. Recounting the events, she wondered about his change of attitude when it came to you, pondering aloud if perhaps you were some sort of angel sent to make their son behave. Unbeknownst to her, Katsuki had been coming downstairs for a glass of water and heard everything, quietly sitting on the stairs eavesdropping as he wondered what the strange feeling inside his chest was.

“I’m telling you,He was gentle! I’ve never seen our son so sweet and well-behaved. It’s like she’s his own personal angel, sent to make him behave!”

Hm. His own personal angel…well, you were a little too aggressive and sarcastic to be considered an angel, but for some reason the idea of you being his angel pleased him.

When you were eleven years old you asked Bakugou to stop fighting your fights for you. When you were younger, you held your own against anyone who came your way, but as the two of you grew up he became more and more protective until it got to the point he was fighting all your fights for you, not allowing you to intervene. What he didn’t realize was that having an explosive guard dog at you back 24/7 only made things worse for you. For one thing, it made you feel bad about yourself. All your life you had prided yourself on being strong, a bit of a wild child, and a lot more rough and tumble than the other girls your age. While the other girls your age had pretend tea parties and played with dolls you wrestled with the boys in the grass, often beating them. But when Bakugou fought for you he made you feel weak, like he didn’t believe you could hold your own when you knew you could.

In your opinion, every pair of pants with the knees ripped, every callous, every scrape and cut, every grass stain and bloody nose was a mark of pride. It was a mark of your strength, a sign that even the boys couldn’t beat you. Screw the patriarchy! But your female classmates disagreed. They would gossip about you in loud stages whispers as you walked by, wondering if you were even a girl, and that it was no wonder you were friends with all the boys with that haircut. You looked exactly like one of them. 

When Bakugou caught wind of it, he wasted no time giving each of them the verbal beatdown of their lives, unaware that one of them was the younger sister of an eighth grader. After the humiliating experience she had gone to her older brother, and now some older boys were constantly harassing you, shoving you around and mocking you. Your pride didn’t permit you to tell Bakugou, and honestly you saw this as a perfect opportunity to prove your own strength not just to everyone else, but to yourself as well. But before you could confront the group of boys, Bakugou caught wind of the bullying and was demanding to know why you didn’t tell him.

Bluntly, you told him it was because you wanted to take care of it yourself without him. A little stung, he asked why you wouldn’t let him help you. Was it because you thought he wasn’t strong enough? Exasperated, you explained that no, it wasn’t because you thought he was weak, but because he was treating you like you were weak. 

While he understood what you were saying, and felt guilty for making you feel that way, he still demanded to at least be present when you took on the boys. You were okay with it, as long as he promised to not get involved. With a little smirk, he agreed, saying his only intention was to watch his best friend kick some ass. 

And true to his word, he sat on the sidelines, not getting involved. Although, he was the loudest one cheering you on as you wiped the floor with those assholes.

“What? You didn’t think a girl could beat you up? Huh? Speak up.”

“Hell yeah! That’s my best friend. Get ‘em! Punch his teeth in!”

When you were thirteen, you were truly disappointed and angry with Katsuki for the first time in your ten years of friendship. For years, there had been tension between you and him about the way he treated Izuku, someone the two of you had been friends with since you were small. While Katsuki went out of his way to be cruel and derogatory towards Izuku because he was quirkless, you remained good friends with Izuku, often sticking up for him.

That cruel behavior had been the cause of many arguments between the two of you as you tried to understand why he treated Izuku the way he did. You knew that Katsuki was a good person, and while he was your best friend and you wanted to always support him, you couldn’t condone his behavior. This created a weird limbo where you helped Izuku out as much as possible while at the same time giving Katsuki space in regards to the matter, hoping he would eventually work out whatever was obviously going on inside of his head. But no more.

You had been waiting for Katsuki at your usual spot, ready to walk home together but ten minutes had passed and you were impatient so you went to find him. Walking through the clean well-lit halls of your school you headed to his homeroom, stopping when you heard his voice. Assuming that he was just having a conversation with his friends, you marched into the classroom fully prepared to drag him out because you wanted to go home-but nothing could have prepared you for hearing Katsuki tell Izuku to take a swan dive off a building and pray he had a quirk in his next life.

Frozen, you couldn’t believe what you just heard. Because there was no way that Katsuki -your Katsuki- had said something that vile. But he had, and seconds after the ugly, vicious words had spilled from his lips your hand came into contact with the side of his face with a harsh resounding smack. Hand flying up to cup his smarting cheek, he looked at you in shock. Not expecting you to continue, he wasn’t fast enough to block the unforgiving knee you crashed into his ribcage, nor the fist you sent flying at his face. He staggered back, coughing as blood dripped from his nose. Snapping his head up prepared to scream at you, he stopped short at the look on your face. You were looking at him like you didn’t recognize him, disgust and anger painted clear across your pretty features. 

Not even bothering to speak to him, you turned and walked over to Izuku, quietly asking him if he was okay. You helped him gather up his stuff, packing his backpack and retrieving his notebook from where Katsuki had sent it flying. Slinging an arm around Izuku’s shoulders, you walked with him out of the classroom, straight past the shell-shocked Katsuki, not even sparing him a glance. 

Later that night when Katsuki stormed over to your house to “apologize,” you were cold, and laid down an ultimatum: decide between being an insecure asshole, and being your friend. As long as he treated Izuku that way you wouldn’t and couldn’t support him. For the first time since the promise you made when you were five, Katsuki was worried about the state of your friendship. So, he managed to somewhat pull it together, ignoring Izuku for the rest of eighth grade instead of tormenting him. But he would never forget the feeling of your anger and fists being turned on him, or the look of pain and disgust you had leveled at him. No. That look was forever ingrained in his memories, reminding himself why he had to be better. He had to be a person worthy of your friendship and affection.

“‘M sorry I guess. Don’t know why you would pick that quirkless loser over me though.”

“This. This is my problem. Get out of my house. Get out of my house and stay out until you can figure out how to be a decent human being. Until then, stay the hell away from me.”

Alright! That's part one! Let me know if you want to be tagged in part two!

[snowiedollie]

｡ﾟﾟ･｡･ﾟﾟ｡ ﾟ。About me ;

　ﾟ･｡･

. ‘ ✶. *

⋆₊ 「 ✦ Dollie ✦ 」⋆₊ °✦ ‧

⋆ he.they ⋆ 20 ⋆ 🇸🇪 ⋆

☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡ ⋆₊

art/oc tag; #★ oc art

main: you’re here . oc aesthetic: sideracor . misc: star-misc . toyhouse: foxietearz_ . insta: foxietears_

oc enthusiast • artist • mixed art media

➦ Hello! Welcome to my main blog, I will mainly post art of my characters and art/media that reflects my interests or the aesthetic of the account.

I’m currently into things relating to nostalgic whimsical fantasy and D&D!

My interests includes making stories and art about my characters and making characters.

Feel free to private message me or interact if you want to be friends!!

Do not interact;

sh / ed relating blogs - i do not support any promotion of content that harms one or others.

and any other bigotry related communities, shouldn’t have to explain that

Content warnings ;

Possible art of characters with healed sh scars

Possible mentions of mature themes (abuse, sa, csa, ramcoa, cocsa > content never glorified or put in a positive light )

Cringe i am cringe

⭐️ Misc info;

fandoms; D&D, Baldur’s Gate 3, Legend of Zelda, Hazbin Hotel/Helluva boss (my red flag), Castlevania, Splatoon, Pokemon, BHNA (second red flag)

special interests; Dermatology, Original characters, Art, Nine tailed foxes

kins; Zelda (botw/totk), Charlie (Hazbin Hotel), Eda (The owl house), Astarion (Bg3), Jinx (League of Legends)

^ i kin for fun purposes, i dont take it too seriously

[enigmaincrimson]

Thinking on it... I should figure out a way put things in regards to Lizzy and Diana when it comes to bhna.

I mean, in Lizzy's case, it was either put her in class or have to deal with the fact she's loose and unsupervised.

Diana probably was more of a scholarship sort of thing... Although I'm not too sure.

I mean, Lizzy's freak of a "quirk" is the sort of thing that would easily give anyone nightmares once reality sets in... Diana's inheritance quirk is probably more useful to mask the existence of One for All, due to having similar characteristics.

Thinking on it, if Diana's quirk has been passed along for as many generations as it did before it reached Izuku, then it's gone through at least nine cycles.

To reiterate Diana's quirk, it stockpiles through genetic inheritance and each offspring will inherit all the quirks from previous generations in the line with increased power.

Something like...

1

12

123

1234

12345

123456

1234567

12345678

123456789

And so on.

Discounting any duplications, usually the first inherited quirk is the strongest, followed by the second, third, and so on.

Of course, while the necessary resistances are likely inherited... It is very unlikely they would be aware of all of their inherited quirks or the exact order of potency without additional information.

[shadisnotarealboy]

Yessirskiii

[buggiesbuzzing]

K E Y ::

t. = texts

w. = written ( sometimes multi chapter )

h. = headcanons

-

s. = smut

a. = angst

f. = fluff

o. = other / multi-genre

-

✓ = completed series

⦷ = on hold / paused series

✎ = in progress series

-

if an chapter of a series has smut, it will be marked with an *

-

it's possible for a series to have more than one writing type ;; for example, a series may be mostly text chapters, but have a couple written chapters

-

all works are "x reader"s unless stated otherwise

-

all south park characters are portrayed as 18+

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all characters here

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𝕣𝕖𝕢𝕦𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕤 ⦂ 𝕠𝕡𝕖𝕟 ☑ || 𝕔𝕝𝕠𝕤𝕖𝕕 ◻

𝕡𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕣𝕖𝕢𝕦𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕤 ⦂ 𝟘

S U P E R N A T U R A L

S O U T H  P A R K

into you ➳ stan marsh ( w, f )

the art of falling apart ➳ craig tucker ( w, f, a )

M A R V E L  C I N E M A T I C  U N I V E R S E

T H A T  7 0 s  S H O W

smeared lipstick ➳ jackie burkhart ( w, f )

H A R R Y  P O T T E R

meeting / dating ➳ viktor krum ( h, f )

T W I L I G H T

⦷ amaranth ➳ carlisle cullen ᵗᵉᵃˢᵉʳ ₁ ₋ ₂ ( w, o )

A M E R I C A N  H O R R O R  S T O R Y

M Y  H E R O  A C A D E M I A

B R O O K L Y N  N I N E - N I N E

C R I M I N A L  M I N D S

first dates with the bau ( h, f )

B A R R Y

the promise ➳ barry berkman ( w, o )

M I S C E L L A N E O U S

[100-running-teens]

I wrote this down at 3am after lying on the floor daydreaming for about 2 hours. Is it funny or good or am I just sleep deprived?

I feel like it works for a lot of different shows hence the spam in the tags lol

[sleepywriter888]

I’m working on a big one

So for about a month now I’ve been reading/watching My hero academia and I’m almost in season four. Either way it took me forever to finally decide to write a fan fiction for it. So basically it’s like an ABO/werewolf deal and it’s AllEraserMic because I couldn’t decide what to write. I have the first three chapters written and will be typed this weekend. A link will be posted when it’s up.

[naviform]

reblog/like if you post

I want to liven up my dash so it’s not just homestuck lmao, reblog or like if you post any of the stuff listed below or if you find this in a tag :>

My Hero Academia

Voltron:Legendary defenders

Idolish7

Attack on titan

SerVamp

Fairy tail

Death Parade

B99

Animal Crossing

Memes

Fullmetal Alchemist

[sinceyousawvienna]

Nine my beloved

You deserved better

[lvexmillie]

Who would win??

[bibibbon]

In the last chapter there's almost no criminals left because Hawks kill them all 😅

I know this is supposed to be sarcastic but I do think that you can argue that hawks did indirectly do something like that as heroes and hero society has been reduced and filled with only the strongest people with the strongest quirks which if you look deeper into it doesn't actually give a pleasant meaning (or well to me at least).

In the end hero society has become exactly how nine and his group wanted it to be. A society that values strength and puts the strong at the top with a little focus on rescue.

[lacependragon]

All right. I’m cranky. My stomach hurts. And I’ve been seeing antis fucking everywhere these last couple of days, so let’s talk about the distinction between reality and fantasy/fiction.

I really like age gaps in my romance literature. I love the balance of two different worlds coming together, the disconnect in culture, the potential for power dynamics, the way the weight of numbers and years can vary. It fucking fascinates me.

In my romance literature. I like being able to turn it off. To close the tab, the book, to turn off my phone, and for it to be gone.

Because I know those things can get really skeevy in real life.

Regardless, I have four (four!) age gap ships that I absolutely adore and actively seek out or make content for regularly. All of which have very specific power dynamics that absolutely would not be okay in real life.

Endhawks (BHNA). You have Hawks (22) and Endeavor (45). Hawks is the same age as Endeavor’s eldest child and worshipped Endeavor’s heroics throughout most of his life. He also is a spy, taught to lie, conceal emotions, and deceive others. Endeavor is a man attempting to atone for his decades of extreme abuse he put his family through, is unable to talk about his emotions, and is undergoing a massive redemption arc. The concept of their friendship allowing the two to grow and see where their shortcomings are as people, to boost each other through hard times, and to help each other be better is gorgeous and lovely and I read most of the fics posted on AO3. In real life? This absolutely would concern me and I would absolutely think the older guy was a predator and harming the younger guy, especially with his history.

Obikin (Star Wars). You have Anakin and Obi-Wan, canonically 16 years apart. They met when Anakin was nine and Obi-Wan had to take him on as an apprentice. For fourteen years, Obi-Wan trained Anakin, though he had a lot of help, and much of Anakin’s skill comes directly from Obi-Wan. Anakin canonically looks up to Obi-Wan, respects him, and wants his respect in turn. Obi-Wan cares deeply for Anakin and both would do anything for the other. The concept of this lifelong bond shifting from friendly to romantic once Anakin is knighted at nineteen is beautiful to me. Obi-Wan never saw him as anything but an apprentice and a friend until one day, when they are equals, he looks over and realizes that Anakin has grown into a man he feels strongly for. Anakin could take his protective nature and turn that into a strength. Obi-Wan could teach him to let go! They could challenge each other. In real life? A guy who raised a kid from age 9 starts dating the kid? Absolutely I would assume it is grooming. I do not believe for a second Obikin is grooming for a lot of reasons - one of which is the community based nature of Jedi and the temple - but that doesn’t apply in our world. I’d call the police.

Sun/Kali/Ghira (RWBY). Sun is Blake’s friend and Kali and Ghira are her parents. In canon, that puts them at least eighteen years apart in age, probably closer to low twenties. At most, when Sun meets Kali and Ghira, he might be 19, he’s probably 18. He’s the same age as their daughter. The concept of this happy go lucky guy who has never had anyone finding this beautiful, successful people who see him as someone worth being with, and Sun bringing joy to these two, is great. Getting along and pulling pranks with Kali, helping Ghira lighten up, training together, and ultimately teaching other things that only they could, just makes me smile. In real life, this is a Stacey’s Mom situation, and I do not think it is a good idea. If my dad wanted to date my same age best friend, I would absolutely think he’s lost his mind and yell at him.

Hazel/Emerald/Mercury (RWBY). The newest addition to the list. We have Hazel, big buff older murderer with a protective streak; Emerald, the thief with a heart she won’t admit to; and Mercury, literally an assassin. While Emerald and Mercury are the same age, and approximately 19-20 when they meet Hazel, they’re probably 15-20 years younger than him, at least. We don’t know Hazel’s age. Hazel is very protective and a bit of a bodyguard figure, while also making plenty of bad decisions. He watches out for Emerald and Mercury. Mercury watches out for Emerald. Emerald tries to do things in ways that make sense to her. As a ship, you can build upon their morals and draw them together as they fight to redeem themselves, you can have Emerald take the lead and have her show the others the way back to the light, even if it’s hard for her to do it. You can take that dynamic of Hazel being much older, wiser, and more powerful than them and bring in some beautiful protector tropes. In real life? I mean, they’re all criminals. But an older man protecting younger people and then dating them would raise some alarm bells. Even if they were all adults. Because he’s in a position of power over them, and he can hurt them, and they’ve been hurt before. I’d be concerned for their safety.

Look at the contrast between these fictional situations and real life. I enjoy these things in fiction. I love playing with these dynamics and reading about them in fiction. I root for them and ship them in fiction. Fiction is not the same as real life. You do not have to only consume “pure” and “unproblematic” media. I know these aren’t real. That’s what makes them fun to play with. No one is getting hurt, no one is ending up in an abusive or dangerous situation, and no one real is going to go home with a predator because I shipped these things.

Dark fiction exists for a reason. We read murder mysteries and thrillers where we might root for good guys who commit murder, while realizing that murder is wrong in real life. We might agree with the guy who drugged his boss for information, while knowing it’s horrible in real life.

But fiction doesn’t have to follow real world morals. You can read and root for murderers, sketchy people, criminals, and bad guys while knowing it’s wrong in real life.

And fiction doesn’t have to say “this is wrong” to be “okay to consume”, either. You don’t read a book where a spy who commits murder is celebrated and go “this book is bad because it didn’t say murder was wrong”. You know murder is wrong. Romanticizing crime and police brutality is a constant in media. Yet, we have critical thinking skills and can understand and research why it is bad.

The same goes for romance. You can read a 20+ year age gap romance and have it be romanticized in the text without taking away that “it must be okay in all situations”. You can read a dark romance where a woman falls in love with her captor and realize that the author probably doesn’t think that’s okay in real life. Power dynamics, toxic tropes, age gaps, all of that is allowed to be written and read as romantic if you want. There’s no rule saying you can’t.

Fiction is allowed to do whatever it wants because it’s not about real people. If you want to romanticize darkness, crime, and unhealthy relationships, go for it! Nothing in the text has to say it is bad. Nothing in the author’s letter has to, either. If you, as the reader, cannot understand that these things are bad in real life, or take fiction as a one to one on how to interact with the world, that’s not the author’s fault, that’s on you. You need to educate yourself and read widely, you need to talk to safe people in your life, and you need to do research.

If you want morals in your fiction, go read Christian romances. Otherwise, learn to think critically and understand that books aren’t telling you want to believe, they’re trying to tell a story. And sometimes those stories shouldn’t be applied to real life.

And that’s not a big deal.