#buckle up because this is one HELL of a ramble

[crocswithoutsocks]

High Roller First Impressions

Just finished my first High Roller fight so I'm going to ramble about it for those who want to listen. If you want to go in completely blind like I did then, BEWARE! SPOILERS AHEAD!

Just for a little bit of context so you can understand where I'm coming from, I'm a puny little 59 laff toon at the beginning of the Mezzo Melodyland taskline, and the only kudos manager I've fought so far is Brian. I haven't seen footage of any fights I haven't fought/naturally encountered yet (I like going into things blind) but I know of and about all of the other managers from art, memes and fanfiction. With that out of the way, let's begin the ramble of a lifetime! I'm going to yap a lot here and also probably go off on a cople tangents, so be warned.

First off, my toon's big head was in the way for half of the low ballers' introduction, so I missed like half of it (caught up through chat though, horray for chat!). I love how you can't refuse the invitation to join the high roller fan club, that's very silly and goofy and seems totally in character for these silly little ducks. I'm usually not keen on games forcing your hand regarding choices, UNLESS it's for the bit, which this totally qualifies as! Anything with comedic value automatically gets a big thumbs up from me. (As a sidenote, I also like when games manipulate the availability of free choice for the bit. Like, in super paper mario where the game straight uo just kills you if you agree to join the bad guys. I didn't think it would let me, and then it did, and then I died and the outcome made me laugh.) Also! I like that in the chat instead of being classified as "toon" or "cog", the low ballers are "silly". They're silly little guys! Upon teleporting to Dave's theare, I was met with a massive group of people (as expected given the game had only gone back up about 10 minutes prior) which provided an excellent atmosphere for the fight. I flung myself at those cog sigls, not caring who else I was going into that fight with as we all shared the same goal: Defeat the stupid gameshow duck. (As another sidenote, any time I call anything stupid, silly, goofy, wacky or anything else similar, I mean them with the utmost respect and praise! They are all positive and affectionate!)

Incidentally, no one on the team I went into the fight with had ever fought High Roller before, which i think probably added to the chaos and overall experience of the fight. No one had any idea what they were doing.

As previously mentioned, this was my first time seeing Dave in game. I WAS NOT PREPARED FOR HOW HIS VOICE SOUNDS. ITS LITERALLY JUST PIANO KEYS SMASHING TOGETHER THATS SO FUNNY. As usual, I couldn't understand a word he said (the fact that I have the reading level of a middle schooler combined with the fact that I'm a slow reader made it very hard to keep up) BUT THEN BUCK SHOWED UP AND STOLE THE SHOW! I may be incredibly biased towards Buck due to the fact he's my (current, subject to change) favourite manager, but he is literally the epitome of silly and goofy during this cutscene. The fact that he enters by dropping from the ceiling, fumbles his introduction, runs in front of the stage like a gremlin only to somehow get himself on top of a giant anvil (I love the comedy anvil), spawns next to dave and randomly rotates for a few seconds to funky music before doing a full on FUSION DANCE with Dave to form high roller. What more could you want from a guy? The toons walking in on the wall instead of the floor was funny too (I assume that's meant to happen and not a bug lol) AND I would like to give a special shoutout to the audience as well! It was nice seeing all of the other managers all together, some of them sat together (Flint and Graham, of course, Chip and Spruce, Bell and Ben the gossip girls, Cosmo and the satelites, the ENTIRE litigation team etc.) Poor Misty is sat by herself, and Mary seems to be swimming in her seat rather than actually sitting in it. It was also cool to see Count Erclaim (and (presumbly) Count Erfit hiding in the back), since I've never seen them in game before. Big mention of course also goes to William and Rain sat together at the front. Gotta wonder how that happened, but either way it's really nice to see! This is all probably old news to anyone who knows the fight, but it brought me a lot of joy! Also, the fact that there was a big sign saying the entire event was non-canon made it even funnier.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING TOONTOWN! - High Roller is LOUD, and I cacked at the absolute cacophony of duck and piano noises that came out of this guy's mouth. He's hot shit, and he knows it. (I am assuming here that the phrase 'hot shit' is positive and not negative, please assume so as well.) The fact that he's level 100 as well??? If he ever decided to quit his career of being silly and goofy and also a gameshow host, he could probably win the war for the cogs single handedly. And also maybe if he existed outside of april and was also a canon entity. His animations are also so fun and expressive, like, this thing does not walk anywhere. He either slides with no expression on his face or he FROLIKS. The silly hat with the ducks too, I like that a lot!

Okay, now onto the actual fight. Finally. It took me and my team about an hour and 10 minutes to beat it. I'm assuming that's not the length of time an average high roller fight takes, and I'm also assuming that it took that long due to the fact that none of us knew what we were doing. I really liked the trivia questions, those were a lot of fun! It made me feel like knowing all of the lore that's been eating my brain for the last month was totally worth it, even if I only knew the answer to one out of the two questions asked. I didn't really get the puzzle bit at first, and then I figured out how to actually look at the board and then I did get it and it was okay. I probably would have liked it more if I'd gotten to do more of them after I got the hang of it, given I only got to do the one puzzle. I liked shuffle as well, that was a nice break from all the thinking in the fight. The actual fighting part was pretty stressful, and I think that's the most I've ever had to think in a toontown battle. I'm assuming that most of the kudos managers are like that though (requiring more thinking, I mean) and that its more a me having not progressed that far through the game thing and less a this is a particulary brain-useage heavy fight. Also, can we talk about how if you haven't defeated all of the cogs at the end of the fighting portion, HR just snaps his fingers and disintegrates them??? Like, as if they were hit by a strong zap gag disintegrated. Did he kill them? Are they dead? Have we just witnessed multiple cog-v-cog murders????? I know high roller isn't technically canon, but it's interesting to think about. My only small gripe about phase one of the fight was that it could have been a little longer. We only got to spin on the roulette wheel like four times, and in my head that was one of the main gimmicks of the fight that I didn't get to see very much of. On the other hand though, the fight did take like a whole hour, so it really probably doesn't need to be any longer. I'm sure I'll be very greatful for the shortness of the first phase when I'm grinding for the low baller sticker later.

I don't really have much to say about the second phase. It felt quite like an interlude between the first and third phases, which I think worked quite well. Just a classic battle, no chaos, (relatively) no gimmicks, just me, Mr Hollywood and the piano that I'm about to drop on his head. Another thing I did really like about this fight was the fact that I, a relatively low level toon with no drop track, got to drop pianos on people and pelt them with wedding cakes. That made me feel very powerful, especially when I was taking down level 25 cogs. Another really small detail but something I really liked in this fight, when you use the stagelight zap gag the lights above the Mr Hollywood you're aiming for go out, like the stagelight actually fell on them. Thats super duper neat and I love it a lot. One of the people in my party also said that the music for this section uses a theme from Dave's fight, so I'm going to have to trust them on that! If so though, that's really neat, and makes sense given this bit in particular is an omage to Dave's fight. I love leitmotifs very very much. I also found it very funny how HR introduced the Mr Hollywoods as the Dave Brubot Quartet, and then only three of them showed up. That ain't a quartet buddy. I've realised now that it's because Dave himself is in the quartet, and thus missing from it, but it's still funny to me.

And then the third stage of the fight is CARNAGE. ABSOLUTE CHAOS. High Roller's cool-pose-into-hollograms-quick-change-into-a-different-colour-suit move was only the beginning of the massacre about to happen (and was really cool). This part of the fight made my game lag, but thats probably because a. my computer is a potato and b. I was screen-recording the fight. The atmosphere in this section went crazy though, with the darkness and the coloured lights totally making the hollograms and HR look way more awesome. AND THE MUSIC!!! THE MUSIC GOES CRAZY HERE!!! THE GUITAR AND THE CHIMES AND THE SYNTH AND JUST WOOOOOOW. It captures the absolute carnage and chaos of the third phase in a way so perfect that words cannot properly describe. It was like WOWOWOWOWOW and made my brain go like bzzwzzbzzzwowowo and AAAHHHHHHHH. And then the guitar leaves and the music calms down and goes back to going bwow bwow and it feels like you can finally breathe again. This was also the part of the fight that absoluelty fried my brain. Having to think about which gags to use, whether or not to use my pip dice, keeping track of my pips (although I never really ran out) and then the different effects of all the holograms? Madness. We ran out of time a lot, used the wrong gags a lot and took a lot of unnecessary damage in return. Wanna trap the yellow hologram? Can't do that, the red one will damage you if there's trap gags on the field at the end of the turn. Oh, that's fine, we'll just lure the yellow one, activate the trap and it'll be fine. Sorry, the green one just gave the yellow one lure resistance and now there's still a trap on the field. That's a bar on the head for you, loser. And also high roller is going to drop a cruise ship on your head (I think the free cruise attack is really funny, by the way. It's like a twist on classic gameshow stuff, which I know is the point but it's still awesome). That's one of the reasons why I felt like playing with a group who had never fought high roller before was better, because no one could really get mad at anyone else for doing the wrong thing, given we were all doing the wrong thing all the time. They were also just nice people, which helped. When we finally got rid of all the holograms, it was such a relief and we were all raring to go and finally go all out on HR. So we did that. AND THEN THE HOLOGRAMS CAME BACK. WE THOUGHT WE WERE WINNING! So we took down the holograms again. We were only a couple HP off killing the red one, which then accidentally killed itself with a bar which was pretty funny. Then HR also dropped a dice on his own head which added to it. The Ace in the hole attack was absoluetly a shock. I wan't paying proper attention, so suddenly there was just this GIANT High Roller head that looked like it was going to eat me and I've been crushed by a giant card and I've no idea whats going on. Going thorugh my head mostly was: " WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT? ????????? SIR????? HELLO???? WHAT ARE YOU DOING??? WHAT IS HAPPENING???". A lot of that, and then he's back to throwing dice and cruise ships at us. We're finally got our act together by now so after two more rounds of holograms High Roller FINALLY goes down at the hand of the almighty final blow dealing cupcake.

He got right up in my space and said I was "top banana", which I'm assuming was a complement but also maybe just because I was a yellow, vaugely banana shaped gator. The credits came out of nowhere and made me laugh, because that's so stupid and in character. Shoutout to the last remaining con artist with a job (being Foley Artist, I don't know what that is) and Flundger the "Drip Meister". I aspire to one day have a title as cool as that. Also to the pencil pusher who won 500 high roller sticky notes :) good job buddy! ALSO THE END NOTE AT THE END OF THAT FIRST CREDITS SECTION?? AS MANY FLUNKIES AS POSSIBLE WERE HARMED DURING THE PRODUCTION OF THIS EPISODE??????? WHERE ARE THE FLUNKY RIGHTS?????? And then High Roller gets hit by a cruise ship and honestly, thats what they get for dropping like 17 of them on me. Deserved. One of my party was stuck saying "YES!" during this section which made it look like they were cheeing for Roller's demise which was particularly amusing. I got crushed by the comedy anvil, it all went very well.

So overall, my thoughts on this fight were that it was INCREDIBLE! I think everyone should play it, or at least give it a try. One of the things I really, really like about it is that its accessible to everyone, no matter how good/bad/new at the game you are. It means that I can at least try to convince my non-toontown friends to play it with me. Out of the tutorial, into the high roller fight, baby! This especially, since HR is only avaibable once a year and unlike FTF (I don't see myself being strong enough to play that one before the end of april) I actually get to play it and enjoy it, with everyone else. I also got to try out some new gags that I wouldn't really see myself getting to use otherwise (piano), and that was a lot of fun! Overall, very very fun, very silly, very goofy, 10/10 would fight again, will probablu fight at least 11 more times because I want that sticker. I'll have to see if my opinion changes after that. Hopefully they won't all take me an hour.

Anyway! That was. A lot of words. If you made it all the way down here, thank you very much for listening to my spiel! It means a lot! Have a virual cookie, or something to that extent. Maybe a duck? Either way, I really need to go to bed. I'm sleep deprived and very very tired. This is Sir Biscuit Weaselchomp, Curious Creature, signing off! Happy April Toons!

[luludeluluramblings]

dream team duo rambling again (our bad 4 tha spam but we luvvvvv ur stuff!!)

gyaru or influencer reader or even normal reader who intentionally has a specific way of speaking (valley girl, southern accent, Cajun accent, etc.) and then completely drops it to go off the grid??? that just seems so cool

Neglected!Influencer!Reader x Yandere!Batfam

☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️

A/N: Okay, buckle up! Cause y'all are adding the spin to my spiraling and I'm living for it!

A/N: Adding this to the concept list because I got carried away with this and will probably want to add to it at some point. Calling this Influencer!Reader.

Warnings: GN!Reader, subtle yandere themes

☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️

Neglected!Reader that starts filming Youtube videos or streaming in their room in the manor to cope with the loneliness. Only, rather than putting on a persona or costume, they just act like their genuine self.

They wear a certain style that they love and feel their best in. They have a distinct accent that they don't bother to hide when filming. They talk as loud or as soft as they want. They ramble and rave about their favorite things. And, people adore them for it.

Including the Bat Family.

But, no one makes the connection.

Outside of streaming, they were typical ordinary clothes that they don't feel like themselves in and try to hide their accent to sound more normal. All in the hopes of fitting in with the family and the Gotham.

The irony of trying so hard to make people like you only for you to fail to realize they already like you. Just not when you hide who you are.

Being blown off by members of the family, only because you have a video scheduled to post and for them to literally cut out time from their day just to watch it and be the first to comment.

Watching the usernames send you donations for your running away fund, only for them to be from the very people you want to run from.

It's not like the Bats realize who you are. They never spend time with you. They never notice you when you try to fit in with them. They've never even been in your room before. How could they know that their favorite person was literally right down the hall.

It isn't until you take a hiatus, telling your followers your finally moving and getting out of your hell hole that the pieces click.

Lets say, Tim gets itchy. (Going back to the idea of him using your videos to fall asleep.) He wants your voice back to soothe him. He needs his fix. And, lets face it, the others would only encourage it when they find out he's trying to track you down.

Imagine their horror when the puzzle comes together. That your their sibling. The one they've ignored. You live in the manor with them. But, wait. You said in your last video your moving? Wait! NO!

The rush down the hall to your empty room. Realizing they had seen the inside of it so many times, but had never actually been in it. Finding some of your old things left behind that had been in previous videos that you didn't bother to take. (They fight over them. They're sacred now.)

The had you. They had you right there in arms reach and they didn't hold you.

And, then you finally post another video. Thanking your fans for loving you when they couldn't. (But, their your fans too.)

They're gonna get you back though. Their you're biggest fans after all.

[shotmrmiller]

since i'm rambling about self inserts? (is that it?) now you're miserably turning over on the bed, pulling the comforter over your head because you wasted a whole whopping 70$ for MW3 only to get an unfinished game and a piss-poor half-assed shock value main character death.

You fall asleep thinking about what you'd do differently- how johnny wouldn't die so needlessly, maybe even convince Captain Price to let Johnny put a bullet in Makarov's head in that helo.

And when you wake, your surroundings are different. The bed is too small when yours is a king, the innerspring mattress creaks when you sit up, even though you explicitly bought a memory foam.

The walls are spartan instead of the personalized decor you had. Looking over the edge of the bed, the floor isn't carpet. It's an ugly, white vinyl tile.

Where the fuck are you?

Your hands are callused but the only time you even got one was when you tried your hand at gardening, only to eventually realize you could kill a cactus with your brown thumb.

Hopping out of bed, you beeline to your bathroom and look at yourself in the mirror. Almost everything is the same. Eyes, hair, body, height.

Only difference is your flesh. It's littered with scars- both old and new. A thick, pink jagged line across your clavicle (a blade?), a puckered star shaped keloid above your hip bone (A gunshot wound?)

Stepping back out into the room, you carefully survey the space around you. A tac vest you swear you've seen before hangs on the back rest of your small chair.

Two black glock-19's sit on the desk. How do you know that? You don't know lick about weapons.

There's a large sheathed blade by your nightstand table. Didn't Rambo have one of those?

Suddenly, it hits you like a ton of bricks. You're dreaming. Jesus. Maybe you should start reading some smut fanfiction before bed to get Simon in your-

A knock at your door pulls you out of your degenerate thoughts.

oooookay.

Padding quietly to the door, the metal of the handle feels shockingly cold. How wildly vivid.

"Ye- what the fuck?"

What the actual fuck?

"Language."

...

Your mouth gapes in utter disbelief. "Simon?"

His dark eyes narrow behind his skull mask. "Chummy, are we?" He steps forward, forcing your neck back at an uncomfortable angle to keep your eyes fixed on his. "You and I, Sergeant, ain't friends. It's Ghost to you. Clear?" he snarls.

You swallow thickly. "C-Crystal, sir."

He tips his chin forward. "Get decent, I'm to take ya to the debriefin' room."

what?

"Now."

Spinning on the balls of your feet, you hastily dress, and grab the vest on the chair. UK flag on it. Tactical. Heavy as hell.

Your hands move on their own, and fingers smartly clip buckles, pull up zippers and close the pockets- as if you've been doing this your whole life.

What is happening?

When you get to wherever it was you were going, you're met with more recognizable faces.

Captain Price stands in front of Laswell, bulky arms crossed as he speaks to her in a hushed tone.

Gaz sits on a chair with his head hanging back as he blankly stares at the ceiling, trademark cap in place.

And then there's- "Bonnie!"

Johnny.

"Good to see Simon dinnae eat ye on the way here."

Simon Ghost doesn't react to the jibe at all.

Why are you sitting in the middle of the 141 listening to Laswell debrief about Hassan? Why aren't you waking up yet? You're lucid. The sharp sting of your nails digging into the palms of your clenched hands isn't dulled.

"Good hunting."

This can't be happening.

This isn't real. The heavy helmet strapped to your head. The weight of the bulky tac vest full of equipment. The painfully tight straps around your thighs. The way the rifle feels in your hands, solid and dense.

Not real.

Until you're offloading with Bravo Team in Al-Mazrah on the search for Major Hassan. The tall grass grazing your pants, the NVG's over your eyes to help you see in the dark. The harsh recoil of a weapon you've only ever used in a video game. The gurgling sounds of the enemies as they choke on their blood by your feet. The bullet whizzing past you, clipping your cheekbone. The burning sting of it, white-hot pain.

Real.

It feels fucking real.

[ashton-sano]

Addicted to you, Dontcha know That You're toxic~?

Now Playing🎼♬ ♪ ♫: Blue Lock boys as boyfriends: Red/Beige flag edition

(Beige flag, if you’re not already aware, is someone whose behavior isnt exactly toxic but not entirely healthy or normal either)

Characters Included: Oliver Aiku, Micheal Kaiser, Otoya Eita, Tabito Karasu(Lowkey my man), Ryusei Shidou with Bonus! Sae Itoshi

*Note: these all happen to be characters I'm a bit bad at writing for so do bear with me :3

Been a while, hope ya likey! Tell me whatcha want more of. I'm gonna keep up the Blue Lock content because season 2 has me in a chokehold :3

Oliver Aiku (His is kinda cheating since it focuses more on before you were dating, my bad)

%Oliver Aiku, who was a highkey weirdo when you first met him, his person surrounded by a myriad of women after a particularly good game when his gaze landed on you. He approached and was stunned at your indifference, provoked to get your number regardless. It took a lot of asking Groveling to get it from you, a jab at his pride but he’ll live. Even after the first couple of months of meeting him, you can’t say your opinion of him would stray much 

%Oliver Aiku who can’t stop staring at you, just locked onto your features. You’re such a vision, the thought of you can’t leave his brain even as he sits with someone else. He spends hours awake just letting his mind wander to you, envisioning what you’d look like in his arms, what you’d look like under him, what face you’d pull as he’s taking you in this very bed

%Oliver Aiku with a Mountain of pride, that shakes and buckles at the idea of you rejecting him. The thought of someone else having you does more to him than you not feeling the same way. He’s determined to have you, even if he forsakes parts of himself for you. He’ll make himself seen around you more often, he puts more thought into how he speaks and acts around you, and he's more protective when it comes to the men who speak to you, even going as far as to flirt intensely. You mindlessly brush it off as his usual antics so much that you miss the way his eyes fixate on you as though you’re the only thing in his world

% Oliver Aiku who is a pretty sweet boyfriend all things considered. You consume so much of his time that he can’t find any to look at others, although he still has his Casanova ways. He teases you for your jealousy but never agrees with you, always stating that his heart is as good as yours, no question. Which he ends up proving in more ways than one. (Freak -.-)

Micheal Kaiser (Clap it up for me guys, I can’t stand this man but i’ll write for him for your enjoyment)

%Micheal Kaiser who has severe affection issues and effectively avoids any from you. It's confusing since he always initiates but at a safe distance, so he’ll flirt and play prince by kissing your hand and junk but can’t cope with the thought of holding each other tenderly and just existing for one another. It takes a lot of unpacking and patience to get him to be more comfortable with affection so intimate and raw with you. 

%Micheal Kaiser who only tones down his superiority complex when you come to watch his practice/games. This comes with a story.  At first, he was about as stuck up as usual with his respective teammates and you decided to visit his practice since you had the time. Unaware of his rivalry, you strike up a conversation with Isagi between breaks. Safe to say he wasn’t happy. God forbid you two exchange numbers; all hell breaks loose. After that petty fight, you swore you’d never come to visit him if he kept harassing his younger. His team thanks you for rounding him out with that threat as practice has gone much smoother since then

%Micheal Kaiser who talks to you in German when he’s sure you can't hear him i.e. sleeping, distracted, etc. It's weird because he knows you aren't listening and still can’t bring himself to say it in English. It’s typically romantic rambles or sweet l love you’s. Either way, it's always cute when he mutters a string of his native tongue to you. You won't tell him when you can hear him, or that you’ve picked up on what he’s saying, no way he’d admit it

%Micheal Kaiser who is iffy about how you interact with Ness in particular. Mainly because you aren’t fond of how he treats the poor boy and end up doting on him. That in turn makes him harsher on Ness which keeps biting him in the ass. After months of this merry-go-round, this stubborn king finally concedes to easing up on Ness as long as you quit giving him so much of your time. He might explode from the bubbling jealousy when you even mention your worry about another

(I believe in pathetic! and whipped! Kaiser because he radiates that energy, argue with the wall-3-)

Otoya Eita + Tabito Karasu (…..yes, I believe in Bi! Karasu and Otoya, they just seem like the type to be gay for each other specifically. I just feel like they’d be better as a throuple rather than individually, they already get along well so why not.)

=3Otoya Eita + Tabito Karasu! who have such a weird compatibility overall, god knows how they landed a stable relationship. Karasu carried when it came to confessing cause Otoya is no short of a moron with it. Karasu had been conditioning the albino for a month now to keep him from saying anything dumb and ruining the whole thing with his foolish womanizer ways

=3Otoya Eita + Tabito Karasu! who love on you in such drastically different ways. Tabito’s affection is warmer and gentler as he applies more thought to his moves and speaks in turn, he lacks technical experience but makes up for it with attentiveness, finding weak points isn't his strong point in soccer alone ya know. Otoya takes on a less careful route, he does what comes naturally, some from what worked in previous relationships. It has earned him a few berating sessions so he strays away from it these days.

=3 Otoya Eita + Tabito Karasu! who get along typically but nearly always fight over you. Insisting their methods are better than one another, you've been caught between several of these battles before. Then again, getting sandwiched between them as they please you from both angles wasn't a bad place to be, they'd even compete to see who makes you louder. It was akin to a game to them, which almost makes you wonder how much they actually care to compete. Perhaps they just need an excuse to manhandle you as a tag team.

=3 Otoya Eita + Tabito Karasu! who decimate any guy that dares to approach you. Karasu will make certain to pick out each flaw he spots and poke fun while Otoya eggs him on with a smirk; the both of them looking down on the man with disgust and heckle him till he screws off. This has in fact gotten you kicked out of several restaurants, which then leads to you scolding them and they insist it won't happen again….did that guy just stare at your ass? 

Ryusei Shidou

=3 Ryusei Shidou! who is 16 shades of insane right down to his feet. Nothing he says is classified as normal, no matter his true implications. You’re subject to filthy jokes whenever, god forbid you wear anything particularly eye-catching to him; It's all over. He's certain to let you know how fine he finds you and if that means ass smacks or pervy comments, he’ll do it without question.

=3 Ryusei Shidou! who has a weird obsession with Sae that you're not sure if you should bring up. You don't mind the redhead and as a matter of fact, you two get along swimmingly since you both remain on a similar degree of apathy that (gets him off) he enjoys. Most time spent with him is Sae sending his regards and applauding your resolve. The three of you together is heaven to the blonde, it's actually weird. You two could be berating him and his smile would be a mile wide. Please don't ask him what he’s picturing, it's not worth knowing.

=3 Ryusei Shidou! With bonus: Sae Itoshi! A Threesome with the three of you would be like; it makes him explode? just thinking about it. Perhaps he’d want you two to have your fun while he watches, just forced to watch and watch till it aches. Then again he’s too impatient and would get hasty. The look you two would give him makes him shiver down to his toes. No doubt you'd edge and force him to the brink over and over without relenting just to teach him to be patient if he wants to be rewarded. This freak would never learn and do it again just for the attention. Someone sedate this man…and me for writing this ig.

=3 Ryusei Shidou! w/ Sae Itoshi! who somehow became a throuple without realizing it??? Like neither you nor Sae are quite sure when but soon enough you all were exclusive and naked in bed covered in each other's marks. You two mesh well, it's just annoying how big and smug the perv’s grin is when he wakes up, was the bastard planning it all along?! The morning after was some harsh whiplash, especially with how natural it felt. 

Bonus (no, I don't have favorites…)

 Ryusei Shidou! who just can't get enough of having his two favorite people around. He doesn't have to play soccer just to harass Sae, he can do it right at home! Best of both worlds if you ask him. With Sae Itoshi! who puts up with it because you're so sensible, he almost wants to date just you at times with how pestering Shidou gets. He actually makes good conversation with you which is a breath of fresh air from the demon attached to his hip. And Y/N! who learns to grow fond of Sae, it's easy to see why Ryusei likes him. One thing for certain, you know to never tell Shidou that, you’ll never wipe the smile from his face and no amount of glaring and harsh comments from you two is rocking him off his high horse.

(I definitely got carried away. I like Ryusae Throuple a lot, it scratches my brain. If you want more of it, maybe I could make some exclusive headcanons?)

Property of ©ashton-sano; Don't post my content on any other platform without credit; much love^^

[itsnotso]

Art nouveau inspired Crowley The Snake of Eden

Click the image for better quality

Symbolism breakdown and closeups under the cut (buckle up 'cause there's a lot of symbolism. You have been warned)

This whole piece took me over 18 hours to finish (closer to 19 if my calculations are correct, and this is without including the planing/thumbnails) so I hope you'll enjoy 😊

Symbolism:

Snake - Crowleys serpent form/the snake of Eden

Stars and moon- Crowley is (or at least was) the Starmaker, so I wanted to include some astronomy related imagery

The constellation on the dark side of the moon is Serpens Caput - Snakes Head (I know this is not how the moon works, and it's not possible to see the stars through it, but this is my artistic interpretation, because I wanted to include stars. I also know this is not exacly how this constellation looks, but it's close enough)

The frame around the moon doubles as the clock face, because of Crowleys time manipulation powers and his association with time in general

The yellow/golden rays emiting from the clock make it look like the sun during eclipse

Crowleys hair has a gradient making it look like fire (a reference to his fall to hell)

Flower symbolism (from left to right):

Monstera plant - I used it because it's one of the plants Crowley has, but also the name Monstera sounds very similar to the word monster (plus it looks nice)

Ambrosia - love is reciprocated

Purple hyacinth - grief, regret and sorrow

Pansy - thoughtfulness, affection, friendship, "think of me"; can also symbolise sorrow and regret (and in the context of Good Omens, there's also THE Southern Pansy)

Tulips in general - deep, perfect love, consuming love

Yellow tulips - cheerfulness, hope, desperate/hopeless love (also we all know Aziraphale thinks that yellow is pretty 💛)

Bellflower - unwavering love, a constant heart

Daisy in general - loyal love

Blue daisy - long term layalty and trust

Forget-me-not - true/faithful love, affectionate remembrance, don't forget me

Amaranth in general - immortality

Globe amaranth - immortal love

Snake plant - I used it because Crowley is a snake, and it looks cool

Lilly of the valley - returning happiness

I know it was a lot so thanks everyone who took the time to read all of my rambling. I really like adding stuff like this to my illustrations, so that they have more of a meaning and thought behind them 😅

Usually I also put the WIP photos alongside the finished piece, but this post is already long enough. I might add some of it later in the reblog

Again, thanks for reading and I wish you all a great day/night 💙

Sources:

Wikipedia article about plant symbolism

Article about flowers symbolizing regret

About tulip symbolism

[swrligrl]

I am at work and... once again.. thinkin abt Tim/Masky and sweet + oblivious reader!!!!!

cw: slight creepy behaviors (by tim ofc), suggestve content (tim jorks it using the hand he touched your shoulder w)

- Its been just over a week, and Tim has NOT stopped thinking about the sweet girl from the gas station. Like... its an issue. Despite his attempts to stop his mind from wandering, ESPECIALLY during 'work' and in the night, he just cant seem to get you off his mind!!!!

- That is until one day he parks his truck in the lot of a small local grocery store, and spots a familiar figure prancing down the sidewalk without a care in the world. He had to stop and admire your carefreeness, it was.. adorable in a sense, stupid, but adorable.

- As you make your way closer and closer to the building, Tim finally gets out of his car and follows you inside, trying not to catch your attention (not that it was difficult to stay unnoticed).

- Imagine your surprise when you (literally) bumb into a familiar figure!!! His hand lightly gripped onto your shoulder to stablize you, shuddering at the thought that he got to touch you. Chirping out an airy 'Thank you!' and going on to ramble about how you need to pay more attention to where you were walking.

- You two stay and chat for a bit, he walks with you around the store, taking note of the items your grabbing and checking off of the list held tightly in your left hand. Suddenly, you perk up!! You almost forgot about your deal from a few says prior!!!! You immediatley re-suggest grabbing a cup of coffee and bite to eat the next day. Tim agrees hesitantly, already thinking up an excuse to tell his coworkers why hell be out the next days afternoon.

- After deciding on a set time, you both part ways, and Tim rushes out to his truck, not even grabbing the groceries he had made the short journey for, and all but speeds home.

- Once he arrives at the small building he and his coworkers called home, he gently swings the front door open, making a beeline right for his room. Tim ignores the concerned call from Toby, and locks his door behind him.

- Fumbling with the buckle of his belt he sits on the edge of his bed, hastily yanking his jeans down and letting them pool around his ankles. The brunette lets out a sigh of relief as soon as his palm comes in contact with his length, giving it a few slow pumps with the same hand that had come in contact with your shoulder about an hour before.

- As ashamed as he was, he couldnt stop, the thought of you with your pretty little skirt scrunched up against your adorable thighs as he absolutley ruined your cunt, your soft voice chanting out his name, it all pushed him further towards his release.

- As he bit down on the fabric of his shirt he noticed something that pushed him completely over the edge, he smelled like you. That sweet floral-honey scent was it for the poor man, because moments later he was spurting hot white ropes of cum all over his hand and exposed stomach.

- Goodness Tim couldnt wait to see you tomorrow...

[redroomreflections]

Words For US

Natasha Romanoff x Fem!Reader

Request:What about Luke's first time saying mom or Mama to R? I know she'd be over the moon! Or maybe if you wanted to share Luke's words with both Nat and r while he's sitting on the ground playing ball with midnight and he points at both both r and Nat on opposite ends of the couch and squeals Mama!

The car was a madhouse.

Luke’s wails pierced the air, his little fists thrashing against the straps of his car seat. He hated being strapped in, and it didn’t help that it was after school — when his patience was nonexistent. Paige, from her spot in the back, was loudly insisting on playing Cocomelon for the hundredth time, her voice climbing over Luke’s cries.

“I said Cocomelon, Mama! Please, please!” Paige’s pleas turned into whining as she kicked the back of the seat in front of her.

Meanwhile, Charlie, seated directly next to Luke, was on her own mission, talking a mile a minute about something that happened at school. “—and then, Mom, she said I couldn’t have the glitter because Ava took it, but it wasn’t fair because—”

Natasha’s hands gripped the steering wheel a little tighter, trying to focus on the road ahead, while you juggled between soothing Luke and listening to Charlie's rambling. Your head was spinning from the constant noise. It was pure chaos, the kind that came with having a car full of kids on a wild, post-school energy high.

“Okay, everyone, let’s just—” You started, turning toward Luke in the back, trying to calm him down.

But the chaos had its own rhythm. No one was slowing down.

Luke screamed a little louder, the pitch of his wails rising.

Paige stomped her feet against the backseat, shouting for her music.

Charlie was still prattling away.

"Dear God, I'm going to walk home from now on," Cara sighed in annoyance. She pressed her headphones tighter into her ear. No matter how much the volume was turned up she couldn't cancel out the sound of her sibling's voices.

Your head pounded.

Natasha's grip on the steering wheel tightened even more. "Okay, everybody!" She yelled, her voice louder than the rest, "Everybody needs to calm down!"

Even Luke’s cries stopped at the sound of Nataha's serious voice. His tiny, tear-streaked face twisted into something determined as he pointed, still hiccupping, toward the front seat where both you and Natasha sat.

“M-mama!” he squealed, the word clear and insistent, cutting through the air like a beacon. His little finger bounced between the two of you. “Mama! Mama!”

"Did he just?" Natasha looked toward you. For a while, Luke's progression with his vocabulary had remained stagnant. His only words were Dog, Ball, and Mine. All very important words of course. But hearing him speak so clearly was new, and his word of choice was enough to make you want to cry.

You nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, he did."

Paige clapped excitedly. "Yes, Lukie, say it again."

Luke's smile grew as he heard Paige's voice. "Mama," he giggled.

You and Natasha looked at each other again, your heart racing as Luke began to point toward Paige, repeating his new favorite word.

"I am not, Mama, silly," Paige laughed. "I'm your sister."

"Ma-ma," Luke said, his tiny brow furrowing. "Out!"

"No, no, don't throw your toy!"

"Ma-ma! Out!"

"It's okay, bud, we're almost home," You reassured.

But that was the wrong thing to say, and soon, his little face was twisting up. "Ma-ma! Mama! Out!"

"Okay, okay, buddy, I've got you," You said, releasing the seatbelt and reaching toward the backseat, undoing Luke's buckles, and scooping him up into your arms. "Let's just pull over for a minute and everyone breathe."

You had no idea if this was the correct way to handle this situation, but what the hell. You needed to get out of the car anyway.

The moment the car pulled over, Luke calmed down, his tears disappearing like they'd never been there at all. "Mama," he cooed, pressing a wet, sloppy kiss against your cheek.

"Thank you," Natasha breathed.

"No problem," You laughed, holding Luke close to you.

[star-angelluv]

authors note: hellooo! someone had requested for a soft nate jacobs piece and the draft got deleted so if u were that person i am so sorry but I hope this finds you! :) also I’m so sorry for how long it’s taking me to make these I’ll try to post as consistent as possible! Pls enjoy this one in the meantime!

Tenderness is a Virtue.

The reminiscing air of what was left of summer flew through your window with a soft sound.

Closing your textbook, you let out a small sigh of relief. Wanting to get enough hours of sleep before class the following day, you shifted your body and let it finally be at ease.

Though none of it lasted long.

The soft ping of your phone rang through the room and its soft light luminated a tiny section of your bedroom ceiling.

Groaning softly you moved your body to scan the screen.

“Wyd?.” -nate

You stared at the message for a moment, but ultimately settled that you were to answer him back in the morning as you moved back to your previous position.

Again, it didn’t last long before your phone rang softly.

Letting out a nosier groan this time, you moved to answer the phone ready with an irked greeting to whom you knew was on the other line.

“I’m outside.” Was the first and only thing he said in a soft hurried voice before he hung up.

Agitated and incredibly confused you quickly put on a pair of slippers and looked outside your bedroom window.

From there, you spotted Nate’s truck parked right infront of your house.

Grabbing your phone you dialed him back.

He picked up on the first ring.

“What the hell are you doing here?!” We’re the first words you spoke to him that night.

“Well hello to you to moody.” Was what he said and you swore you could hear a smirk in his words.

“Nate it’s 2 in the morning, why the hell are you here-“

“Alright, Jesus fucking Christ calm down a bit, yeah?”

You groaned softly for what seemed like the tenth time of the night.

“Just trust me alright? And get your ass down here, the foods getting cold.” There was the shit eating grin in his voice again.

Your annoyance shifted into curiosity and by the time you were to respond he had hung up.

Grabbing a hoodie and carefully moving to the front door as to not wake your parents, you reached the front door and stepped outside.

Running carefully to his truck you reached the passenger door and opened it.

“Hi.” Was the only thing he said as he watched your soft gaze fall onto the objects in the passenger seat.

Your gaze shifted to meet his eyes, “hey.”

“You gonna come in or are you gonna stand there looking at me like that?” He asked with a soft teasing tone in his voice.

Hesitantly you exhaled softly.

“I don’t know Nate, there’s class tomorrow and I can’t risk not sleeping just because you decided to go on a joy ride.” You said in a slightly annoyed as he took it all in meanwhile you rambled.

“And even if I wanted to, if my parents see that I’m not home they’ll ground me-”

“Please?”

You turned your eyes to stare at his soft expression.

“I know it’s late as shit right now and I’m sorry for waking you up but I really need you right now, so if you could just get in the fucking car please.” He said in a pitiful tone.

Part of you felt a slight sense to be there for him, and the other small fraction felt like slamming the car door shut.

With a resigned sigh you slid into the passenger seat.

He smiled softly at you as you buckled your seatbelt.

“Thank you.” He whispered afraid his voice would break the brittle silence between you two.

You turned to him and nodded softly, a silent reassurance.

“So where are wo going?” You asked.

“It’s a surprise.” He said grinning and starting the car.

“Nate.” You groaned his name softly and scrunched your nose at his words.

“Nope, not telling you, but relax alright? All you have to do is sit your pretty little butt in that seat.” He said still grinning and teasing.

You shook your head smiling softly and leaning back into your seat.

———

After a short drive, he turned onto a side street, then another, weaving through the city until you reached a small, secluded rooftop parking lot with a stunning view of the city skyline. Nate parked the car and turned to you, eyes softening as he looked at you.

“Come on,” he said, his voice gentler than usual as he hopped out of the car. You followed, your curiosity growing as he opened the trunk and pulled out a small basket.

He caught your confused expression and offered a quiet smile. "Trust me," he said, guiding you to the edge of the rooftop where he spread out a blanket on the cool concrete.

"Picnic on the roof?" you asked, a bit surprised by the thoughtfulness behind it.

"Picnic on the roof," he confirmed, carefully unpacking the basket. He handed you a sandwich, his fingers brushing against yours briefly, and you noticed how deliberate and careful his movements were.

“Thank you.” You whispered sweetly.

He nods softly with a small smile on his face. “I know we’ve been tiring yourself out lately so I wanted to do something for us, figured we could use a break even if it’s just a night,” he admitted dropping normal smug tone to a more tender one towards you.

You couldn’t help but smile at the thought of him planing this all out.

“This is really nice, thank you,” you said, your heart warming.

His lips pulled upwards into an adoring smile, “I’m glad, I was worried you were going to think it was dumb or something.”

You shook your head softly as you bit into the sandwich.

You both ate and fell into conversation, chatting about everything from school to football.

“You know we have a game next Friday,” he spoke.

You nodded your head, “yeah, I heard. Biggest game of the year right?”

“Yeah,” he replied, his voice a bit softer than usual.

He paused for a moment as to decide how to say his next words. “You should come.”

You blinked, a bit surprised. “To the game?”

He nodded, looking almost shy for a moment, a side of Nate you weren’t used to seeing.

There was something in his tone, a quiet sincerity that made your chest tighten a little. “Really?” you asked, wanting to make sure you hadn’t misunderstood.

“Yeah,” he said, his eyes meeting yours. “It’d be nice to have someone there who... who actually cares, you know?”

You thought your heart would actually explode at that point hearing how he aches for you to be there.

“I’ll be there,” you said softly, your voice barely above a whisper.”

He smiled, a genuine smile. Thanks, it’ll be nice seeing you in the stands instead of mad at me,” he says teasingly.

You shook your head softly and laughed softly, “you’re horrible,” you said still shaking your head and hiding the soft tint that rose to your cheeks.

———

Pulling up to your house and turning off the engine, Nate turned to you, the soft radio music filling the space.

You smiled softly at him and reached to open the car door to exit but turned to look at him with a soft smile.

“You know you can’t just show up to my house and make me a picnic every time we fight,” you said softly and teasingly.

He smiled softly and reached to cup your cheek to bring your face towards him.

“I know,” he said in a whisper as your faces were inches apart.

“But,” he said as he got closer.

“There’s always painting, museums, a movie, and I suppose if everything else fails I’ll just do this,” he said as his gaze fell to your lips while he held both your cheeks softly and pulled them so your lips met his.

The kiss was soft and tender, no lust, just you and him.

As you pulled away softly you peck right below his lip lightly.

“You’re dumb,” you said in a whisper tone.

“I’ll be whatever you want me to be sweet girl.” He said with an adoring smile.

[losing-it-lately]

Night Shift

wc: 0.8k

steve harrington x reader

angst, up for a pt 2 but i need motivation. inspired by night shift by lucy dacus

Shifts at Family Video are usually long and boring, but now they're long and desolate; workdays become shift long reminders that Steve doesn't want you, not as a girlfriend, not as a friend and definitely not as a shift partner. How were you so deluded that you created months worth of ‘signs’ that he ‘liked’ you, when he probably didn't even actually like you as a person. Dustin always jokes about how Robin ‘so easily turned him down’, but Robin and Steve are still friends, best friends in fact, yet Steve didn't want to give you that courtesy.

Hell, he's still amiable with Nancy Wheeler who ripped his heart to shreds, but you? No, he just has to ignore you and change all of his shifts to closing ones or the really early morning ones that you would never think of signing up to. How does he even know which shifts you would never take and why does Keith keep giving him them? It's sick how quickly your loneliness spirals into faux fury; you weren't mad at Steve, instead you were mad at yourself and how it all fell to shit so quickly.

It was a party, and you were a little bit tipsy, and he looked so beautiful. You didn't even know Steve would be here, originally just turning up to have a fun night with your girls, but here he was. His beautiful brown eyes were wide eyed in the darkness of the random basement of the house party, and he was wearing a soft burgundy sweater; must've been a new sweater, because you definitely would have noticed him wearing that in one of your shared shifts. It was tight and seemed soft to the touch, but even softer was his hair. The product in it looked shiny and even so much as a gentle nod from Steve was enough to tousle his hair. He was taking your breath away.

Steve was distracting, too distracting and his constant gaze at the back of your head was taking your mind off of other things, like how many shots you had had and how late it was.

You were getting tired, and Steve could tell. He had only come tonight to see you, and see you he did; all your laughter and unabashed joy from your proximity to your friends was electric, even if he wasn't a part of it. But now it was late and you were quieter, so he made his way to your friends and asked if it was ok for him to return you home. Steve’s kind and normally, a guy doing this would raise all kinds of red flags, but after your countless ramblings and short introductions of Steve to your group, they knew how much you trusted him, and how much you cared about him. So your designated driver became Steve, and as he led you back to his car, a new kind of confidence began collecting in the pit of your stomach.

He brought you to the front seat and buckled you in, despite the lack of any clear ‘drunkenness’. You were just a little bit tipsy and a little bit ready to do things that you would only dream of doing. You fiddled with Steve's radio as if you frequented his car and you told him how beautiful he looked after you muttered your address, and when he finally stopped the car in front of your place, you offered for him to come inside.

Steve exited the car and came all the way around to your door. He opened the car door and let the light from the street lights filter onto your face; it created a small halo around his hair, and you were mesmerised. You could feel the soft burgundy cashmere under your fingertips after you placed your hands on his shoulders, as if you were bracing yourself before he unbuckled the seat belt. And as Steve gently places the seatbelt back, you felt something change in between you; your eyes flickering between his eyes and his lips, before one of you finally leaned in.

His lips were soft and they tasted like sobriety and the minty chapstick he prided himself on using. His sweater was warm underneath your fingers and Steve's chest was flush against yours as his hands rushed up and cradled your jaw. You kissed quick and strong and then he pulled away, “you're not sober.”

His eyes were suddenly filled with something harsh and hurt and hellish. “We can't do this. You don't want this,” his voice was quiet but his disapproval was loud. You felt exposed and awkward and stunted. What felt like paradise was brutally taken away so quickly. He escorted you to your doorstep in silence and then watched you return home with misery on your face.

Steve and you had kissed, and then you had stopped, and now, he wouldn't even see you.

[h3ffleyswife]

"i cant hold my alcohol" (r. heffley x reader)

desc: fem! reader who's ben's little sister. drunken mishaps, you sleep in rodricks bed, just read it

warnings: slightly ooc rodrick ngl, i wrote this when i was tired lolz sry

word count: 2480

You buckle your seat belt and throw your purse on the floor of your brothers car. "We're going over to Rodricks, his parents are out of town so he's throwing a party, sound good?" Ben, your brother, says while reversing out of your guys' driveway. You furrow your eyebrows, "Rodrick? The hot one in your band?" You questioned, picking at the chipped nail polish on your fingernails. Ben looked over at you and scoffed, "I mean, whatever floats your boat. But no way would I ever let you two date. You guys would make my life a living hell." You roll your eyes and sigh, "Whatever, leave me to my fantasies, Ben."

Your brother's face contorts into one of disgust and he pulls in front of a house that you can only assume is the Heffley's. "Please, spare me with the details of your Rodrick fantasies." Ben says, putting the car in park and taking his keys. You giggle to yourself and hop out of his shitty, beat up car. You can see lots of kids already here, most of them already wasted out of their minds. Ben walks in front of you towards the front door, and your heart flutters with nerves.

Stepping through the door, the first thing that hits your nose is alcohol, and it almost makes you nauseous. Ben's already gone off somewhere, so you walk around until you can find the drinks. Peeking your head into the kitchen, there's a couple borderline fucking on Rodricks kitchen counter. You scrunch your eyebrows and turn around, there didn't seem to be any drinks in there anyways.

It takes you about five minutes and squeezing your way through a bunch of intoxicated, smelly teens, but you finally find the drinks. Gwen Stefani is blasting in your ear while you pour yourself a coke mixed with a little bit of whatever shitty alcohol Rodrick managed to get his hands on. You take a sip, there's not too much alcohol in the drink, which is good. You don't plan on getting drunk tonight.

Rodrick is standing in a corner of his living room, chatting it up with his band members when Ben walks up to him. Rodrick greets him with a high five and a large grin on his face, "What's up dude? What took you so long?!" Chris asks Ben, also giving the boy a high five. "Sorry guys, my sister took hella long to get ready, but we made it!" Ben said and took a sip of his drink, he's lucky you already agreed to being designated driver, because there was enough alcohol in his cup to kill a victorian child. Rodricks ears perked up at the mention of you, "Your sister's here?" Rodrick questioned Ben, who looked at him with a raised brow. "Yeah.. she's somewhere around here, why? Is that okay? She's in our grade, it's not like I brought my 7 year old sister or anything." Ben rambles, Rodrick's now scanning the room for your familiar face.

It's been a running "joke" between the band that Rodrick has a thing for you, Ben's sister, for a while now. Any time you showed up with Ben to practice because of convenience, Rodricks playing would be off, and he'd be distracted the whole practice. There was just something about you, Rodrick thought to himself. "Hey man, stop daydreaming about Ben's sister!" Chris waves his hand in front of Rodricks face and laughs, making Rodrick blink a couple times before laughing nervously and looking at Ben. Ben rolls his eyes before making eye contact with Rodrick, "I wouldn't actually be upset if you tried to date my sister, but I swear on my mother, Rodrick, that I will put you six feet under if you screw her over." Ben places his hand on Rodricks shoulder and tightens his grip, making Rodrick gulp nervously before nodding quickly, "Of course dude, I wouldn't do anything to purposely hurt her!" He swats Ben's hand away, "I have business to attend to, gentlemen." Rodrick shouts, walking- maybe skipping- away to go find you. Ben sighs and takes another swig of his drink while Chris laughs to himself, turning to go try and talk to a girl.

You're leaning against a wall, starting to get mildly bored, when someone taps your shoulder. Turning around, you see Rodrick. Your face immediately gets hot and you give him a small smile, "Hey!" Rodrick says with a smile, giving you a quick once-over. You pretend not to see him looking you up and down, feeling an unfamiliar feeling in your stomach. "Hey Rodrick, how's it going?" You ask, your voice shaky and hands clammy enough to open a seafood restaurant. You cleared your throat awkwardly, normally, you were able to hold a conversation with him, why was it so different now? Rodrick gives you a nervous smile and stutters out a reply, "Well, throwing a party is way harder than it seems, y'know. How've you been? I don't really see you around school much." He smiles at you and you feel like you've just levitated off of the ground, "Haha, yeah I bet. I'm not doing too bad, just kind of doing my own thing, you know? I haven't been doing a lot recently, but I did just pick up a new guitar the other day, learning it's been kind of a pain in the ass though." You find yourself starting to ramble. Rodrick just looks at you and melts into your voice, nodding at certain parts. "You should teach me how to play once you've got it down. I could teach you how to play the drums, not to flex or anything, but I'd say I'm pretty good" Rodrick says and crosses his arms, smirking to himself. You laugh and shake your head, "If you sound anything like you did a couple months ago, I think I'll pass on those lessons, Rodrick" You giggle, watching his face fall.

"Hey! I've improved, thank you! And I wasn't even that bad..." Rodrick looks away with a pink face, and you find yourself smiling at the boy. "Sorry, sorry. I'll have to take you up on those drum lessons, then." Rodrick looks at you and laughs, "You want another drink?" You look at your empty cup and shrug, "Sure, why not."

Rodrick leads you into the dining room where he had drinks laid out on the table, "Let me make you something, are you driving later?" He asks you, and you pause, "I could find a ride home". He raises his eyebrow, "You could always just crash over here if that's okay with you?" Your stomach twists in excitement and you nod, "That's fine by me, why are you trying to get me drunk, Heffley? Don't try anything funny" You say and take the drink he's made you out of his hands, throwing him a smirk afterwards. Rodrick's eyes go wide and he stutters and trips over his own words, "W-wait!! I'm not trying- that's not-" You cut him off by laughing loudly, shaking your head. "I'm just giving you a hard time, if I didn't want to drink, I wouldn't have agreed to you making me drink." Rodrick lets out a loud sigh and playfully glares at you, "Gave me a heart attack" He grumbles and you giggle again, taking another sip of your drink. It was pretty strong, and you realized you should tell your brother to figure out a ride home because you were no longer going to drive him home. You take another sip, "Hey, do you know where my brother is by any chance? I need to tell him i'm not gonna drive him home, maybe Chris can?" Your words start to slur together and Rodrick nods, "I'll go find him and tell him, stay right here, 'kay?" You nod and pour yourself another drink.

Rodrick shuffles through his now, very full, house and looks for Ben. He finally catches sight of the boy, but he's on his way out of the house. "Ben! Hold on-" Rodrick catches him walking out the door, Ben looks back and tilts his head to the side, "What's up dude?"

"Hey, do you have a ride home tonight?" "I was about to leave and drive mysel- oh shit I forgot about my sister, have you seen her?" Rodrick swallows nervously, "Yeah, we've been hanging out all night. Is she cool to stay here tonight? No funny business, I promise! She's just starting to get kind of drunk, and I need to stay home to like... supervise this party, you know?" Ben sighed and nodded, "Yeah, that's cool. Let me know if I need to come get her at any point. Don't do anything stupid, Rodrick. See you at practice tomorrow." Ben says, shutting the door after he does. Rodrick hopes he's not overly upset with him.

Making his way back to the dining room, Rodrick sees you beeline to the bathroom in front of him suddenly. He looks around confused for a moment before quickly following you to the bathroom, making sure you're okay. You slam the door behind you and Rodrick can hear the sound of you throwing up on the other side of the door. He winces and knocks on the door gently, "Hey, it's Rodrick, can I come in?"

There's a pause of silence. Rodrick can hear you cough, and then throw up again. After a minute or so passes, your voice can be heard weakly behind the door, "...come in". Rodrick opens the door, shoves himself in the bathroom and then quickly shuts it behind him again. You look up at him with tears in your eyes from throwing up, and the sudden motion of looking up makes you nauseous again, immediately throwing your head back towards the toilet bowl. Rodrick quickly kneels down next to you and holds your hair behind your head, and rubs your back.

After you're done throwing up, you look back at Rodrick, wiping your mouth with your sleeve. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to throw up like that. I can't hold my alcohol very well, I guess" You say, thoroughly embarrassed and wanting anything but to be here right now. Rodrick shushed you and tucked your hair behind your ear, "Here, I have a shirt you can change into, do you want pajama pants too? I'll get you water and you can lay down in my bed." He offers, holding you and slowly standing you up. You shake your head, "You don't have to do tha-" "I want to do that, do you need me to walk you upstairs? Or do you got it while I grab you some water?" He asks gently while walking you out the door. Your face turns pink and you sigh, knowing you couldn't avoid it now. "I got it, which room is yours?" "All the way down the hall and to the left, you'll know which one when you open it." He says, smiling and walking away to grab you a glass of water once he sees that you're walking up the stairs. Once you're up the stairs, you go to the room Rodrick told you to. Surprisingly, his room isn't terrible. Could it use some tidying up? Yeah, but for a teenage boy, it was fairly well kept. You sit down on his bed and wait for him, slipping your shoes off.

Rodrick opens the door, and cracks a small smile once he sees you sitting in his bed. You look up and give him a small smile back, grabbing the glass of water he offers you. He walks over and opens his wardrobe, grabbing you a black graphic tee and some pajama bottoms. When he hands you the clothes, you notice that he gave you one of his Loded Diper tee's, and you smile to yourself while your heart flutters. "I think I have these same pajama pants" You state, the pants looking very familiar. Rodrick laughs, "We should totally match, wouldn't that be cute?" He says, with a joking tone, but he meant it.

You looked up and giggled, "Turn around for a minute while I change" Rodrick's face goes red, and he nods before turning around. You take your shirt off and put on the Loded Diper shirt. It smells like cheap cologne and... Rodrick. You can't describe how he smells, but it makes your heart jump in your chest. You slide your pants off and put on the pajamas, looking up at Rodrick, who's still staring into the wall, focusing on anything but the fact that there's a hot girl changing in his room. "You can turn back around, Rodrick"

He turns around and his stomach flutters at the sight of you in his clothes. "Drink some water and lay down, you can go to bed if you want to. I'll sleep on the floor tonight." Rodrick says, taking a pillow off his bed and tossing it lightly on the floor. "I can sleep on the floor, Rodrick, I don't mind" "No, I'm not making a pretty girl sleep on the floor, do you think I'm crazy?" He says, almost offended at the thought of letting you sleep on his floor. You blush, and look away awkwardly with a quiet laugh. He smiles at you, and walks towards his door. "I'm gonna go tell people to go home, I'll be back up in a minute" You nod and he leaves the room.

Laying back in his bed, the situation you're in starts to sink in.

You're in Rodrick Heffley's bed. And you're wearing his clothes. What the fuck? Your heart pounds and you turn onto your side, closing your eyes and cuddling into his pillow. It wont hurt to close your eyes for a minute until Rodrick gets back.

Rodrick goes around downstairs, telling people that they should start to head home because it's getting late. People leave, and Rodrick has to kick a couple people awake off of his living room floor. He looks around at the mess that he'd have to deal with tomorrow and sighs. He'd probably just get Greg to help him with it.

Rodrick walks up the stairs and gently opens his bedroom door. He walks in, shutting the door behind him and then looks over to you, and his heart soars. He swears he can feel his heart pouring out of his chest, how was it possible for a girl to look so beautiful? He walks over to your sleeping figure and tucks your hair behind your ear, "You're so pretty.." He says quietly, and kisses the side of your head.

Rodrick makes himself a makeshift bed on his floor, staring at the small portion of your sleeping figure that he can see. "Goodnight" He says to you with a smile, turning over, thinking about you.

What an eventful night.

hey!!! first fic in a while, let me know if you'd want a part two, thx!!

[sweetxloverxx]

"........gods everyone's perception of Kronos is so different from mine." She mutters.

"Hey Connor! How's everything going with The Guy?" She smiles, sitting across from him.

“The guy?” Seriously? But to answer your questions everything is going well, nothing particularly worth noting though.!

[justjesse116]

Can I pester you for your thoughts on Dabi and Hawks' respective canon endings (if you haven't posted em somewhere already and I've just missed it)

Oh yeah, I did say I'd touch on that and sure never did huh. I got so fed up that I just ignored the ending and didn't feel like acknowledging it with a post anymore.

But I do have an answer for you. It's gonna be a long one, buckle up buttercup.

As for Dabi's 'end'.

Ah yes, fantastic message Horikoshi, if you're not a perfect victim and don't shrink away and make yourself small and hide away from your abuse/abuser - if you get mad and lash out then you should just fucking die. Your ABUSER gets a second chance, but you can just go fuck yourself.

(For a better understanding on how I feel about Dabi's story as a whole I got, what, 2 sentences in and had to pause because I'm sick as hell right now and a little fucked up on cold medicine, and I got so mad my hands started shaking and my heart tried to do it's best impression of a wildebeest stampede in my chest. (Emotional regulation who?))

Dabi is my ride or die, because I came from a home where my sperm donor terrorized me my whole life for the crime of being alive and having the gall to take after my mother. I have an unfortunately personal understanding of how he feels, at least in part, and his end in the story is what bothers me most, and will continue to do so.

Did he go about it the best way? No, I'm not a fan of the murder (arson I couldn't give 2 fucks about, destroy that government property babey) but I can't blame him for turning out the way he did. He went through literal hell and came out the other side torn apart physically and mentally. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't fantasize about killing my sperm donor for all the ways he fucked me up every once in a while, so I can't blame him for that either. I think it's a natural reaction to want to eliminate a perceived threat, especially one as traumatizing as one of the people who are supposed to be guaranteed to love you turning on you the way Endeavor did.

But anyway, I'm rambling at this point so in a nutshell; FUCK Horikoshi and his wishy washy writing and bitchass cop out. The end to Dabi's story is insulting at best and harmful at worst. It's very obvious that he was over My Hero, since he bulldozed over anything that would resemble a satisfying ending in regards to multiple parts of the story, but his handling of Dabi as a character is the most egregious in my opinion. I have well and truly had enough of this man (derogatory).

So now I shall move on to the man, the myth, the legend, the love of my life - you get it. Hawks. And if I'm being honest I'm not very keen on his ending either.

First of all, what ever happened to giving heroes more time to kill?

Ahem. Excuse me, getting a little heated.

Fucking give me that man, he needs to be sat down in a plush fucking armchair, with a mug of actual coffee, not that canned shit, bundled in the softest blanket money can buy, just relaxing and reading or watching a show. LET THAT MAN REST. HIS ASS HAS NO BUSINESS BEING THE PRESIDENT OF AN ORGANIZATION THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ABOLISHED AT THE END. THAT'S WHAT IT FELT LIKE HORIKOSHI WAS HINTING TOWARDS THE WHOLE TIME. GET RID OF THE HERO SYSTEM. BUT NOOOOO.

To be a little more coherent (hopefully) about it. It's not to say I don't think he could do it, I just think it was one fuck of a leap. That was some Olympic level stretching, at least in my opinion. I just think that man deserves to rest. He belongs in a quiet little house in the countryside and he has a part time job at like, a local farm or something and in his spare time he volunteers all over town and preferably Dabi is there as well 🙄. Give him peace and quiet, let him rest.

I honestly don't know what would have satisfied me canon wise for his ending, but HPSC president just ain't it. Again, I feel like it was Horikoshi catching the cooties for his own work; he just wanted to be done with it so he slapped together what he thought was the most likely of scenarios and just left it at that. In a word; disappointing.

I see a lot of people saying he should have died, because out of everyone of the heroes his death would have made the most sense and had the most meaning or whatever, and I can agree with that, but I'm still glad he's not dead. It absolutely is fucked up how disproportionate the deaths were when it comes to heroes vs villains, no one can deny that. But dammit I need a win, I need a fave who ain't dead.

I think that about wraps up my thoughts without me writing a god damn dissertation. Thanks for the ask, it was a nice distraction.

[valscodblog]

ℙ𝕀𝕊𝕋𝕆𝕃𝔸 -Part three

Warnings: Use of alcoholic beverages, Mentions of a man wanting a lady in a sexual way, vulgar language,

Credits to oc: MEEEEEE <3

Previous Parts: pt.1, pt.2 ---->Next Part

Tags: @skauni, @2econd-of-1sts, @rainyrambles-overcod, @thebunnednun, @karlachismylife (you seemed interested last time i spoke of this series) <333333

Maria hummed softly as she did her eyeliner. When was the last time she had let anyone taker her out? She couldn't recall. But that's fine because here she was, about to get picked up by Alejandro Vargas. The Alejandro Vargas...Her fucking Boss. What was she doing? This was her boss and all her New rookies would be right...but she liked him. A lot more than she should've for someone like herself.

Ay, dios mio, who cares? She thought as did her hair, just a simple ponytail...or should she leave it down? Let him see the curls? She hummed, took her hair out and, for a moment, saw her mother. She gulped and quickly put it back up. There, Maria...now you look like your Tia Sarita. And she's pretty enough.

She walked out of her bathroom and heard a car pull into the driveway. Alejandro. She threw on some black heels and giggled. Why was she giggling? Fuck. She was happy...couldn't let him know that. A knock on her door. She opened it and saw Alejandro in a tuxedo. She quirked a brow up "Y que es esto?" she asked, grabbing the poorly tied tie. She quickly redid it for him and saw how it made him smile.

"You said somewhere fancy...Si o no?" "Hmm, Si...I did, but-" "No buts, vamos! I even got out the good car." Maria blinked. He had other cars? "Well. The one car i don't use for work. Sports car," he rambled. And she listened. They walked out to the car and Maria blurted out, "Camaro, two thousand and eighteen, right?" Alejandro quirked a brow up. "You know about cars?" Maria blushed and looked down at her heels. "Not a lot...just, some models and standard facts."

Alejandro chuckled and opened the passanger seat's door for her. "Well, hop in if you want." And she did. She got in, sat down, buckled up and hummed. Clean...new air freshener...soft music playing when he turned on the engine. Okay...she had to give it to him. This was looking to be a very good impression on her. She smiled and asked, "So where'd you buy this?" Alejandro hummed and said, "Off of Rudy's uncle. He was going to scrap it, but i told him i'd take it and fix it up. Wasn't really all that bad, but still."

Maria nodded, "Why was he gonna scrap it?" "Someone brought it to his junkyard." "Ah..." Maria nodded again. Alejandro hummed and smoothly turned the wheel-wait. What? Why was she looking at the way he palm was laying on the steering wheel? The way his fingers let go of it and the way he moved said palm with the wheel as it turned.

Get your head together, Maria.

She hummed softly and looked out the window. Fuck, say something or this will be one hell of an awkward drive. "So, where are we going, anyways?" she asked, Alejandro chuckled and said, "You said not to tell. So I'm not." and Maria fake pouted. Alejandro snuck a glace over to her and sighed, he was such a weak man when it came to her. "It's a good place, trust me...they have pretty good food...nothing on my cooking, but edible enough." Maria laughed. "Says el hombre who can't even bake cookies." Alejandro groaned.

"Will you ever let me live that down, Mi Amor?" Maria shook her head, "No." Alejandro sighed again and parked the car. Wow. Fast driver. Wonder what else he's fast at? Wait-no. Fuck no-"Maria...Essstaaas biieno orr?" Alejandro dragged out uncertainly, she nodded and said, "Si, si, just uhm..." she looked down at her heels. Alejandro took off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. "You don't have to say. Vamos."

He took her hand gently and she let him. Alejandro felt like he was walking on eggshells the whole time he was holding her hand...he didn't know why though. Well, maybe it's because you've seen what she can do, Estupido, he scolded himself. He checked in for his reservation and got lead to a private table. Alejandro pulled out her chair for her. "Well?" Maria smirked and sat down.

"Well what?" "Tu sabes, Alejandro..."

And he did indeed know what she wanted. He smiled down at her and murmured, "Ay, Mi Amor..."

Yeah, like Rudy had said....He was hopeless. And In love.

[luv-again]

How would shadow explore his gender identity with Amy? Now that he has the time to just live and learn what would he learn about himself?

ooohh this is a fun one !! i have yet another winding ramble, so buckle in >:)

i am a huge lover of shadow and his relationship with gender because it's something so free to interpretation given his design. like,, look at my baby

i have such a barbie mentality with him; he could be anything <3

i love seeing anyone and everyone's designs and headcanons on how shadow approaches gender and i only WISH i could draw well enough to demonstrate all the ideas going through my own head right now

for the most part, i do believe, given shadow has the time to sit down and ruminate over it, gender would be something that crosses his mind. sure, a part of me thinks that he's confident and comfortable in himself to not even address that as important and simply carry on, but there's always something i've been sure about with shadow since day dot: questioning and identity

this might be a massively biased opinion considering the first real iterations i saw of shadow were shth05 and sa2 but a core factor in both of those games i noticed were about discovering, solidifying and being at peace with who he is. of course, this theme comes up in a couple of other titles as well (though perhaps not as strongly) and i feel like that really bolsters that idea for me

i am never static to one headcanon when it comes to shadow's gender identity because all of them are awesome as hell (also i'd hate to document one set idea as My Opinion, Forever, when i know my opinions come varied and in multitudes). i just love shadow, guys. roll credits

the great thing about amy is she's so accepting and if gender is something shadow wants to explore, she is the best person to do that with. she'd be so patient, supportive and keen to help if there's anything shadow's unsure about. i have a feeling part of this whole process would be shadow unlearning gender roles and expectations pressed on by his experiences on the ark and/or wired into him from creation ?? who bloody knows

maybe he got to play dress up with maria back in the day and remembered he was fond of dresses. maybe he tests his comfort in and out of clothing. maybe he tampers with pronouns to see whether any spark euphoria. maybe he sticks with he/him like most people have referred to him by but inside feels more like a consciousness constricted to a corporeal form (this is a little bit of a personal projection on my end, but i feel like shadow would feel this way at least at one point). maybe he really struggles finding something that suits and feels restless in his own skin. maybe he gravitates to something right away and has his massive click moment. he could or could not care less for labels. there is honestly so many ways you could go about this and i have not NEARLY listed everything

needless to say, amy adores shadow and whatever conclusion he comes to and that is fact :)

[lesbian-in-leather]

Let's Talk About Alastor

Hazbin Hotel is rotting my brain so it's time for me to ramble about it to no one in particular!! Obviously this post will contain a whole multitude of spoilers, so please don't look under the cut unless you're fine with that/have seen the full season

As I mentioned in the tags of this post, I have SO MANY THOUGHTS about our beloved Radio Demon, especially in regards to the finale and how I think his plot could go next series, so buckle up folks, this'll be a long one

First off, let's talk about the way he fights. When he's fighting anyone, Alastor is big, and showy, and fucking deadly. We see it time and time again—he has fun when he fights, he enjoys the carnage and, most importantly, the terror he elicits from his foes. And that's why he was tasked with dealing with Adam—he's insanely powerful, and if anyone can take down the head of the exorcists, it would have to be Alastor (because obviously they didn't know Lucifer would show up to help, and Charlie hasn't fully come into her power yet, but that's another post). And he knows it! He knows he's powerful, he knows he's deadly, he knows everyone is shit-scared of him, and that's what he relies on.

And then the finale happens. He's in that final battle, and he's actually put to the test. And in terms of sheer power, for once in his afterlife he isn't the strongest in the room. He's actually outmatched, or at least on an even footing. And if he'd fought like everyone else, then maybe he would have succeeded—if he'd taken Carmilla's advice, I have no doubt that he would have won, or at least held Adam off for long enough that the others could have come and helped him. But he never stood a chance. Because he fights like an angel, and that's why he loses to one. Look at Carmilla's conversation with Vaggie:

"You leave yourself open with every swing; you fight like someone unafraid of harm" "Angels wield no shield, little armour, and fight with reckless abandon"

Remind you of anyone? Rewatch Alastor's fight with Adam—he's fighting just like he always does. He has multiple opportunities to take him out, but, like always, he chooses to play with his food. He's enjoying himself, he's riling Adam up, dancing around him, taunting him. Because at no point does he consider that he could lose this fight—he has no armour, no shield, he didn't even bring an angelic weapon! He just has his trusty radio mic (the source of his power? Perhaps... but that's a discussion for another post) that Adam breaks. And the genuine fear in his eyes, in his voice when that happens? He has no idea what to do. He never even considered this could happen. Everyone else is fighting for their lives, but he was treating this war like simple sport... until suddenly he couldn't.

And speaking of motivation, once again we can look to Carmilla's song to see why he loses when the other, objectively less powerful souls (Husk, Angel, Cherri, hell, even Nifty) succeeded. Yes, they weren't against Adam, but they were still fighting exorcists—you know, the same angels that have been decimating hell's population unchallenged for literal centuries. But they didn't die. Because they were fighting for what they truly believed in, because they had a real reason to not only fight, but to live. I saw it mentioned in this post earlier, and they make such a good point! Charlie's fighting for her dream and for her people; Vaggie's fighting for Charlie; Lucifer for his daughter; Angel, Husk, Pentious and Cherri are all fighting for their friends (something Charlie gave them, btw, but again, that's a different post). But what's Alastor fighting for? Power? Fun? To prove a goddamn point? I think he loses because even he doesn't really know why he's fighting. I mean, listen to Out For Love and tell me it doesn't apply to Alastor just as much as Vaggie:

"I see you're driven by your detestation Your every step is stoked with animus You need a different type of motivation Or there's no way that you can handle this I know you're thirstin' for vengeance, Vaggie You're out for blood But you'll only stand a chance if you're out for love"

Which would bring me onto where I think his plot will go in future seasons (should we get them), but first we need to clear a couple of things up and try to understand his character as best we can. Now here's the thing, I know a lot of people are divided on the topic of Alastor's feelings. Some people say he genuinely cares about the others, while some say he's just putting up a façade and playing the game, and that all of the supposed evidence of his feelings are actually manufactured manipulations. But I think both readings are true, and also, neither of them are.

Because I think Alastor does care about the others, to an extent. But I also think he refuses to acknowledge it, to recognise that part of himself, that he's buried those feelings so deep he doesn't even know that they can exist within him anymore. I think whoever holds his leash (Lilith? The seven year gap is a little too convenient to ignore, but at the same time, now that we know where she is, what's her motivation? Anyway, another post) pushed him towards the hotel for their own purposes, but I also don't think they're particularly checking up on him. I think his mission is to do with Charlie, but I also think he's grown genuinely attached to her over the months they've known each other. Why do I think this? I'm glad you asked!

First off, let's examine his reactions in various key moments throughout the series so far:

This first shot is the most annoyed we see him for the entirety of the song Should Have Stayed Gone, despite singing with one of his (many?) self-proclaimed rivals, Vox. Now yes, he does look moderately peeved, but I would argue that it's much less to do with Vox, and much more to do with the focus on television and his constant fear of irrelevancy (more on that later in this post). Then look at his expressions later—

Now he's enjoying himself, he has that ever-present shit-eating grin we all know and love. And, most crucially, no one else can see his expressions during this song. No one's looking at him in the first pic, and for the rest of the song he's in his radio booth, so it's safe to assume that his expressions are far less guarded than when he knows he's being observed. Why is that important? Well, let's take a look at another Alastor-heavy episode, shall we? That's right, no Alastor analysis would be complete without a delve into Dead Beat Dad, so here we go!

Right off the bat, we're shown his dislike of Lucifer. I know some people say it was all for show, but I disagree. Hear me out—Alastor's smart, no one's arguing otherwise, so why make an enemy of the literal devil just for sport? Now, let me be clear—I don't think he actually sees Charlie as a daughter-figure (at least, not consciously, and certainly not as strongly as he was making out). The thing is, he is good at reading people, and all it took was one look at Lucifer can't-wait-to-break-the-door-down Morningstar for him to realise that Charlie's affection was what mattered the most to him. However, his hatred of Lucifer was not all for show. So why did he hate him? The fact that he hadn't heard of him certainly won't have helped (again, Alastor definitely has a whole complex, we'll get to that), but his loathing started before Lucifer had even spoken to him. How do I know? Take a look at the moment when Lucifer has literally just opened the door

Look at that eye twitch. No one's looking at him. No one can see it. But the sheer, unbridled rage is so evident that he can't quite keep it from his face. And all Lucifer has done is hug his daughter. Now, assuming the two have never interacted before (Lucifer certainly doesn't seem to remember him, and Alastor doesn't act as though they've met) what reason does Alastor have to hate him? If Lilith is his master, perhaps it's on her behalf? But he doesn't seem particularly loyal to whoever holds his leash, far from it, so that leaves us with the two most logical options: either Lucifer is the one holding his leash (not impossible, but I wouldn't say it has much evidence thus far), or Alastor is genuinely opposed to him because of how he's treated Charlie. Because he does care about her, however little he'll admit it to himself.

Just to really hammer this point home, I'd like to show just some of the many other instances of Alastor being genuinely furious with Lucifer over the course of this episode—in fact, seeing as we've already talked about Should Have Stayed Gone, let's constrain ourselves to Hell's Greatest Dad for now, shall we?

All Lucifer has to do is laugh at the start of this song, and just look at Alastor's face! That's anger, or at the very least intense annoyance—with ever-smiling-Alastor, the proof is always in the eyebrows. Then we get this wonderful sequence of expressions while Lucifer begins insulting him:

Oh, and just in case you need a comparison, here's a shot of Lucifer insulting Alastor side-by-side with two different instance of Vox insulting Alastor. And some people still think Vox is his rival and he was just messing with Lucifer?

Now you may say, "Ah, but that's not a fair comparison! Alastor was clearly winning his argument with Vox, whereas he and Lucifer were on a much more even footing!" to which I would reply yes! Exactly! That's why Vox isn't anywhere close to being Alastor's rival, and also at least part of the reason Alastor cared so much when fighting with Lucifer. If winning against Lucifer was as easy as Vox, of course he'd pick that fight. But it wasn't. At the start of Hell's Greatest Dad, he's getting straight up humiliated (as those four waiter-esque pics demonstrate). And yet, he keeps fighting. Partially for pride, I'm sure, but some part of him absolutely cares about the argument he's making.

How do I know that? Well, you see, first of all we take a look at how Alastor acts when he first starts singing. As we all know, Alastor's power lies in his voice—his face was made for radio—and he's (almost) always so much more in control when he's talking, and always in control if his radio filter is in place. In fact, the stronger it is, the more he appears to be taking charge. So, when he first begins to fight back against Lucifer, he immediately puts that Cheshire-Cat-esque façade back into place, quite literally dancing around Lucifer as he does so:

And yet, his energy is so much higher than normal. He's leaping around, his usually calculated movements suddenly far more erratic and energetic than we've seen him. For example, in his first verse alone, he goes though all of this:

Not only is he using far more power, he's become so showy, his expressions are so much more unhinged than even he usually is, his pupils are near-constantly slitted, and, most importantly, take a look at his colour palette. Right at the very start it's still his classic red and black, but then—without Lucifer even interrupting—he gets so invested in convincing Charlie (and, by extension, proving himself better than Lucifer) that he switches to what I have dubbed his Powerful Palette. It only ever happens when he's demonstrating his full abilities; when he's angry at Husk, when he's fighting Adam, when he makes a new deal, and... now. Arguing with Lucifer over who's a better father to Charlie. And while usually it's in brief flashes before he returns to normal, here he stays consistently in his greens and pinks, for a good majority of the song. You don't think that means he really cares, even just a little bit?

And when Lucifer has the gall to interrupt him with his golden fiddle, and just look at Alastor then;

Look at his face, look at his posture. Alastor, notorious for waving his arms around in grand, swooping gestures, is standing there, gritting his fucking teeth, fists clenched, arms folded at what must be an uncomfortable angle. The only time he moves is to concede a tiny step so he can drop a fucking piano on the literal devil.

Now this bit is so interesting, because he, very briefly, seems to believe that he's won, or is at least winning. And even then, he doesn't relax, he doesn't return to his normal colour palette or even his normal expression. He's still furious, you can see it—with Vox, it was a game. This is personal, and then when Lucifer is actually not only fine but still fighting, now playing a new instrument, (literally playing the devil's chord) to deliberately ruin Alastor's melody? Oh that's pure rage.

This first expression is his immediate reaction to it and, perhaps even better, the other two are him trying to contain it. Because he knows he can be seen, but he physically can't look any more collected than that; he can't control his expressions during this song. If he could, he would, because it would irritate Lucifer all the more, and he's more than smart enough to realise that. But neither of them can control themselves here, because both of them really, genuinely, care.

Then he physically places himself in between Charlie and her father, not only pushing him out of the way, but then going so far as to physically drop him out of frame with a gesture reminiscent of a Roman Emperor as he reinstates his claim over Charlie—again, feeding into his need to be relevant and powerful (we're getting to that part, I promise). But isn't it interesting that this time, he didn't even use his power? He pushed Lucifer with his bare hands, not bothering with the intimidating shadows or powerplays, because for once it wasn't about that. For once he wasn't focusing on the person he was fighting, but on the person he was fighting for.

Now this exchange is so interesting. Because Alastor misses a really good opportunity to get Charlie on his side, and I think he misses it purely because he (almost certainly without realising it) gets actually, genuinely offended on behalf of his friends. Because when Lucifer calls the others losers, he's insulting Charlie's family. Knowingly and callously! Right in front of them! And if Alastor was in his right mind, he would have absolutely pointed it out with a fake gasp and a shit-eating grin. But look at the way he reacts to Lucifer's interruption—the narrowed eyes, the tensing of his shoulders, the flexed wrists and clenched hands. That's genuine anger; it's too immediate and out of character to be anything else. Because he didn't intentionally goad Lucifer into saying that. And instead of taking advantage of the opportunity, he responds by, very childishly, asking Lucifer to "butt out" of his song. Because they were Charlie's family first, and he may feign indifference, but he included himself among them for a goddamn reason, and how dare Lucifer insult them like that?

And again, compare how he's moving and standing to how he was in Should Have Stayed Gone. In this gif (and Hell's Greatest Dad as a whole, but let's focus on this bit right now) he's glaring, his shoulders are hunched—he tries for his usual nonchalance by pushing Lucifer out of frame with a swing of his hips, but then is immediately betrayed by his expression, and his reaction the second Lucifer comes back at him. Meanwhile, in Should Have Stayed Gone, this is how he acts while taunting Vox:

He's so much more relaxed, he's visibly having fun, and Vox is the one bending himself out of shape to try and get Alastor's attention win the argument. Another interesting parallel between him and Vox in these numbers is when Vox is clearly losing towards the end of his part in Should Have Stayed Gone, compared to Alastor's first verse in Hell's Greatest Dad.

I mean, these frames are just a little too similar, don't you think? Both of them desperately trying to grab the attention of the subject of the song, duplicating themselves and leaning over the borders to try and be noticed... oh Alastor.

And now, finally, we get onto the bit that I've been promising for this entire post: Alastor's inferiority complex. The thing is, I think I've worked him out (at least, to an extent). We've seen time and again that he hates the idea of being irrelevant—the fact he doesn't like any technology beyond radio (leading to the real reason for his annoyance in that very first picture I used, when he sees everyone gathered around Vox's screens); his reaction when Carmine said she had not in fact, been wondering where he was; his reaction when Lucifer says he's never heard of him; the way he rushes to "remind people why he's here" at the end of Dead Beat Dad, and the fact that when he first arrived he took out all of the overlords who dared to dismiss his power, just to name a few. His fatal flaw is clearly pride—he wants people to know him, he needs to be relevant or he doesn't know who he is.

And I think that's the real reason he hates Lucifer. Because, father-figure or not, the two of them do represent the same position in Charlie's life. But why would she need help from a human soul (albeit an insanely powerful one) when she has a literal angel around to do whatever she wants? Yes, Alastor is powerful, but if Lucifer is back in the picture... well, we all saw it in the finale. Alastor was quite literally fighting for his life, and barely escaped with it, while Lucifer was dancing circles around Adam, shapeshifting, taunting, joking, and all the while he was periodically rescuing Charlie too. His attention wasn't even entirely focused on the battle, and he wasn't even really trying to hurt Adam until the end when shit got personal.

And I also think that's why Alastor got so scared. Because he almost died. As I said right at the start, he fought like an angel. He didn't even consider getting hurt as an option. And now he's having a crisi of mortality, and being powerful and scared is a dangerous combination. So where will his story go from here?

Well, from the fact that he's still at the hotel, I think that's evidence enough that he's being forced to stay with Charlie—despite all the very real evidence we have that he does genuinely care about her (I mean, they way he talks about shaping her to Rosie? The gentle looks, the fact he loaned her his mic? Don't forget how he looked when that got broken, it's clearly so important to him, and he gave it to her twice. Not to mention the whole 'wanting to be relevant in her life' thing that I've been going on about for like, half of this post. Remember what Rosie said about words being easy, but actions are hard? Yeah, he says he doesn't care, but... anyway). So, he's being forced to stay while he looks for an out in his contract with someone. But where does that leave him in the wider story? Well, I do think he'll eventually turn on Charlie and the rest of the gang, but I also think that it'll be temporary. Assuming the crew gets as many seasons as they want to tell the full story (never a guarantee, but here's to hoping) then I think he'll probably stay for a while next season but work against them behind the scenes, then make an open move against them, then be gone for a while, then start his long and arduous journey back into everyone's good graces.

Obviously his deal with Charlie will come into play, and I think he'll probably use it as leverage to get out of his deal. "I'll make Charlie do what you want—without hurting her, or making her hurt anyone else—and I get to be free from this bullshit" kinda thing. I also think it'll be very interesting when that happens, because I have a theory on what he meant by the deal having "clipped his wings"—I don't think he can take anyone's soul anymore. Think about it; we've only seen him even attempt two deals this season, and not even once has he attempted to add a soul to his supposedly ever-growing collection. It would certainly clip an overlord's wings to not be able to amass any more underlings—especially since it seems that the more souls someone owns, the more powerful they are, not just in terms of owning other people, but in actual, tangible power. So I think he'll eventually get out of his deal, and then he'll be free and he'll go utterly off the rails... for a while. But it won't be as fun anymore. Husk and Nifty will have been forced to turn against their friends, and Alastor won't care what they think, because why would he?

Except suddenly he does. Husk's silences suddenly feel a lot more pointed, and Nifty refuses to even look at him, and suddenly he feels something he hasn't felt in a very long time, or perhaps he's never felt it at all. He feels guilt. Regret. He wants friends again, because they were loud and annoying and they didn't respect him but... he'll realise that his affection for them wasn't all for show, not even by half. Because he almost died for them. And even when he's talking about it, scoffing at his own perceived weakness... he calls them his friends.

And that's when the real fun will begin, because the Radio Demon On A Mission will be a force to behold, and god help anyone who gets in his way, because once he figures out the love he's fighting for... oh, he'll be unstoppable.

[witchy-scribblings]

the way he cares

haganezuka hotaru x reader

synopsis ➳ somehow, the worst part of being involved in a mild car accident isn't the actual accident, but having to deal with your annoying mechanic.

warnings ➳ car accidents, cussing, can be read as either platonic or romantic, lowercase

wordcount ➳ 0.7k

[crossposted on ao3]

“care to explain what the actual fuck happened to you?”

you had been dreading this moment all morning. well, actually, you had been dreading it for way longer than that. from the moment you were released from the hospital and fully comprehended the damage that your car had sustained, you had known that hotaru, your trusty (and that was the only kind way you could put it) mechanic, was going to give you absolute hell.

you were so not looking forward to it that you seriously considered pretending you weren’t home when you saw his old but reliable towing pickup truck pulling up in your driveway. alas, you had been the one to call him to get your car (if it could be considered a car anymore) to his workshop, so he knew that you were home and you knew that he’d kick down the door if you didn’t come out yourself.

“some fucker hit my car from behind and i got whiplash.” at this point, you had explained what had happened so many times, to the doctors, to your car insurance advisor, to your family and friends, that you had exhausted any patience you would have once spared the infuriating man. hotaru was known for asking the right questions in all the wrong ways, it was just that today you weren’t feeling like putting up with his usual bullshit. “so? can you fix my car or do i need to find a new mechanic?”

at that, he looked downright offended. “of course i can, who the hell do you take me for?” he delivered a hard look to your poor car and its misshapen rear, clicking his tongue. “you’re lucky this is covered by insurance. all this fucking damage…”

“no shit, haganezuka. i have eyes,” you scoff, and he doesn’t answer. instead, he sets to work loading your car onto the tow dolly attacked to the back of his pickup. you watched silently, wanting nothing more than to go back home and rest because your neck was a constant pain in the arse and the relentless july heat was making your neck sweat and itch uncomfortably under the cervical collar.

“you should be more careful,” he speaks suddenly, roughly, bringing you back from your thoughts, and you would have caught the hint of care if you hadn’t been pissed off by the way he dared to express it.

“don’t give me that fucking shit, hotaru. as if it’s my fault that someone else wasn’t paying attention on the road-”

“didn’t mean it like that,” he sighed raggedly, running a hand along the back of his neck, trying to collect the stray hairs that escaped his long ponytail. he didn’t bother elaborating, you didn’t think he had it in him. but you understood, regardless.

“i know,” your voice comes out surprisingly soft, and you see his lips press into the tight line that you’ve long associated to him trying to conceal any visible emotion other than anger.

hotaru is hopping back onto his own vehicle sooner than you can realize and, if you didn’t know better, you’d say he was avoiding looking at you. looks like that was more sincerity than he could stand in one morning.

“the towing service isn’t covered by insurance, but you can manage the fee, it won’t sting like a bitch.” he’d do that, start rambling when you knew he was feeling embarrassed. “i’ll call you when it’s ready to pick up, or bring it back here myself, whatever, but know that it’s gonna take a shit-long time. not that you can drive like that, anyways.” he buckled up, checking his mirrors reflexively and still not bothering to look at you. the fucker.

“maybe i’ll just start calling you to drive me places,” you tease, and that does earn you a hurried, offended glare to which you would have shrugged if your neck wasn’t so messed up. “i mean, i have groceries to buy, for example, which i might also need help with taking inside and putting away.” 

“you’re such a brat,” he grumbles, and you grin despite your predicament. his lips curl into a small, sneering smile of his own. “i’ll charge you for that.”

“of course you will.”