#but even THAT is debatable because there were a LOT of problems that went ignored under her stewardship

[ask-whitepearl-and-steven]

You don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but how has your opinion changed on Steven Universe now than when it first aired? Like I have fond memories of watching the show while it was airing but now I realize that it had a lot of problems that I feel like a lot of fans either flat out ignore or bend over backwards to make sure their rose tinted glasses stay on.

... okay, fair question. Let's talk about this.

I'll try not to wax poetic too long, but there are a lot of things to be said here.

First and foremost - how has my opinion changed since the show has ended?

Simply put - it hasn't.

When I started watching Steven Universe over 7 years ago, I didn't have much knowledge of it. I sat down, saw a few of episodes and went 'well, this is a silly show for kids with a goofy but loveable protagonist... but it seems like it's also incredibly charming with its delivery and has some nice, more complex themes about loss and healing and grief throughout.'

And if you ask me what Steven Universe is now... I would probably say that exact same thing.

Am I wearing rose tinted lenses? Interesting question.

What ARE 'rose tinted lenses' in this context anyway?

What do these lenses represent? What do they obscure?

Since you didn't go into specifics, I can only assume what you're referring to when you say that many fans ignore the show's problems.

There have been many discussions surrounding various aspects of the show and how it might be read as 'problematic' (ahhh how I've come to despise that word.... without context, it has all the descriptive power of the word 'icky' - none of the critical details and all of the emotional punch of scrunching up your face like a cat that just sniffed a lemon...)

Is this about something as simple as the 'SU doesn't have a consistent size for its characters' debate?

Because that has been gone back to, over and over again, and proven to be a point of opinion. SU favored allowing storyboarders to show off their personal flourish, and even though Peridot was 30% hair in that one episode, it did not overall take away from the plotline being told, which was their goal. If you wanted to watch a show with consistent styling throughout, you can always watch a 3D modeled show, but keeping that up was simply never one of SU's main pillars. And I feel like it didn't have to be.

Is this about something more complex such as the way Rose was presented?

...and how her arc was shown backwards instead of forwards - showing first the person she became in the end, and afterwards revealing all the growth she had to have to get there?

That was on purpose! And I don't think this is a problem. It's a feature, not a bug. Rose was never meant to be an ideal character - she was meant to be complicated and messy, and I think the fact that the fandom is so split in their opinions of her shows that the Crewniverse pulled that off really well!

She fucked over Bismuth! She forced Pearl to be silent! Those are both parts of her character arc that were never resolved because she died before she could resolve it - that's BY DESIGN. Sometimes, you just do something absolutely stupid and cruel, and you cannot go back to fix it.

Is this about the Diamonds? The fact that they were not put in space jail, after being put on trial for space crimes, and then publicly executed for space eco-genocide?

Here's the thing - most people I know who watched and loved SU are fully aware of that. But simply put - Steven Universe was not a story about Revenge.

Steven Universe was a story about love. A story about family. A story about truth, and lies, and hurt, and healing. About how sometimes healing doesn't happen. And how sometimes it will, but you won't be around to see it.

But it's not a story that can be all things for all people.

That is the thesis of my reply: It is a story.

It is not a manifesto. It is not a bible. It is not a Complete Truth.

It is a single story. Made by a group of very talented people, who cared about these characters, who did their best. They made a funny, emotional, well-drawn and complex cartoon show about the things THEY personally wanted to tell stories about.

Does it answer all questions the way everyone wants them answered? No. That's impossible.

Everyone wants a different story. Everyone wants a different solution, a different resolution. A different ending.

Steven Universe is one story. It cannot satisfy all people.

So when you ask me 'has your opinion of Steven Universe changed'? The answer is 'no'.

I went in, expecting to see a story. I saw a lot of what I liked! I saw some parts which I thought were interesting. I saw some parts which, yes, I disagreed with a little.

But overall, it's a good story. And that's what I expected, and that's what I got, which means I'm pretty satisfied. I love that story.

I feel like recently, there's this expectation of media, to be Everything For All People. And it's a bit unrealistic. No one call tell the perfect story. We are all simply telling the stories we want to tell. And people will vibe with that, more or less.

A single story, made by a small group of people, will never be that for you. There will never be an Unproblematic Cartoon that you watch that will be devoid of things you disagree with.

Being critical of media doesn't mean 'Criticize the FUCK outta that media, and the one with the least criticisms is the best one'.

Critical thinking is about evaluating things critically - that means being critical of YOURSELF. Being critical of your OWN reactions. Asking 'why did I like this?' and 'why did I dislike this?'. Asking 'this doesn't mesh with me, but who WOULD it mesh with? It isn't for me, but who is it for? Who would it hurt, but also who would it help?'

Some people HATED how SU: Future ended. They beat their fists on the wall and cried about how Steven was leaving his family behind, and how THEY could never imagine doing something like that, and how he was running away from his problems just like Rose had.

Me? I loved it. I think it was the right choice, and I COULD imagine it and thought it was in character. I thought he needed to be his own person, instead of shouldering everyone else's responsibilities for once. Was one of us more right than the other? Maybe not? Maybe that was the whole point?

Loving things is not about putting on rose colored glasses. Sometimes, choosing to love something with flaws is an act of rebellion. It's about knowing you have differences, but understanding that there is value in the things you DO agree on, and knowing you can consume that.

Healthy consumption of media does not mean throwing the whole cartoon away as soon as you notice something is wrong with it, like a bruise on an apple.

Healthy consumption of media involves critical thinking AND feeding yourself. Acknowledging you may disagree with parts of it, but not starving yourself just because your apples all have small imperfections.

Eat, for fuck's sake. Feed yourself. You'll feel better.

Thassit.

[smytherines]

I often wonder if I would feel differently about The Staircase Scene if I had seen SAF when it first came out in 2016. The first time I saw it was probably around October or November of 2023, and like... the context is different now.

Whatever we want to say about the personal story arcs of these characters (and I know I'm in a tiny minority because, for me, killing Owen does not constitute a satisfying close to Curt's arc, that's totally fine), there is the very real issue of the sociopolitical context that this scene takes place within- both in their time (1961) and in ours.

One very cool thing about SAF is that, in order to understand these characters better, a lot of younger queer folks end up learning about the Lavender Scare, about Executive Order 10450- which officially prohibited gay people from working for the US government- for the first time. That's an incredible, precious thing to me. Yay queer history! It's important!

The show itself never addresses the fact that both the US and UK governments had very public, very brutal campaigns equating homosexuality with communism with being a traitor to your country. But if you want to understand these characters, and especially write fanfiction, you're really incentivized to teach yourself some fundamentally important aspects of queer history.

In the 54 Below concert, before singing Not So Bad, Brian Rosenthal talks about how when they were developing the show they thought N@zis were more or less a thing of the past, that they're fully aware of how differently that song might be taken now after an escalation into a more open embrace of fascism in the US. And they're absolutely right about that.

But I think that's also perhaps an issue with the staircase scene, or at least it is for me. Obviously homophobia and transphobia were not "fixed" in 2016, they were still massive problems resulting in violence and discrimination and brutality. But institutionally, at least, you could look at the situation and point to some things that were gradually getting better.

In 2016 trans youth in my state were legally allowed to receive gender affirming care. In 2024, they are not. It's not that homophobia and transphobia went away and then came back, but there was a very real resurgence of the use of the media and of governmental power to inflict pain on queer & trans people and chase them out of public life- bathroom bans, gender affirming care bans, Don't Say Gay laws, trying to make drag illegal, equating queer and trans people with pedophilia. There has been a big cultural shift back towards the same kind of violent governmental moral panic that our beloved Curt & Owen would have lived under.

Whatever we want to say about these characters and this story (and there's tons of fascinating debate there), there is still the base of a gay man killing his ex-lover ostensibly to protect US foreign policy objectives. Killing the man he loves- or loved, at least- to protect the secret that he is gay. And that hits different for me now.

I watch that scene and it is heartbreaking on a personal level, but its also heartbreaking as a queer person who just wants to scream "your government will destroy you for being gay, you don't owe them shit!"

Owen tries to explain that the surveillance network is happening, that the future won't wait for Curt to catch up. Barb has been saying she's working on the same thing for the US government the entire show, but Curt just kept ignoring her. And I just want to say "Curt, honey, what do you think your government is going to do to you with that surveillance system? Do you think you're useful enough to keep around even though you have sex with men? Because I promise you they will not care."

It feels tragic to me because on some level it seems like Curt would actually be safer with another gay man having control of all the world's secrets than he will be if the government he has dedicated his life to gets their hands on that same technology.

And the thing is, having a tragic ending doesn't make the show bad. This show is great. This scene is spectacular. It makes you think, it makes you feel things, it does all the stuff that great art is supposed to do. Absolutely none of what I'm saying here is meant to denigrate the show as a musical or a story or even a queer story. I hope it doesn't come off as me saying "actually this show is bad," because I don't feel that way at all.

Clearly I live and breathe this show. That's why I spend all my time on here analyzing every scene, every frame, every facial expression. I love this show so much that I can't help but deconstruct it and look at all its component parts- including the sociopolitical context both now and in 1961. Because that context, despite never being explicitly mentioned, is important to our understanding of these characters.

I love these characters so much that it's actually pretty difficult for me to watch A2P7 anymore, because the staircase scene is so emotionally devastating to me that it's hard to try to swing back into that more comedic tone (even though Spy Dance is a certified bop).

I'm not even sure what my point is with all of this, other than to say that Spies Are Forever is a show that is great and fun and funny as written/performed, and becomes gradually more emotionally devastating when you rewatch it or when you understand the subtext of it. When you can engage with the themes of gender and sexuality, surveillance and technology, trauma and trust, and tease out even more satisfying theories around this show.

So yeah. It's a musical. It's about spies.

[infamousbrad]

Alex Garland's Civil War is my perfect movie. I'm not sure who else's, though.

There's a thing I've said about lots of art: if you have to read the artist's statement to get the point, the artist's statement is the art. I read multiple interviews with Garland, went in prepared for the movie he was trying to make, and I loved it, a lot. I don't know if I can say that I enjoyed it, because it's super-emotional, especially super-tense. But I'm very very glad I saw it, and if somebody invited me to go with them, I'd probably watch it again, and I may well buy the blu-ray when it comes out. That being said? I'm not sure who else, other than a few weirdos like me and a few academic cinephiles this movie is for.

Remember the movie Pleasantville, if you even saw it? The trailer mislead a lot of people into expecting a jokey comedy about how dumb "Return to Normalcy" era sitcoms were, and nearly everybody who went in with those expectations hated Pleasantville, because what they got was a deep philosophical meditation on how you can't actually solve a social problem without losing your innocence, and loss of innocence, no matter how necessary, hurts. So almost nobody loved Pleasantville but a few people like me, who wanted it injected straight into our veins.

So let me lay this straight out before you buy your ticket to Civil War:

First of all, at no point in Garland's Civil War do they tell you the politics of any of the three sides in the near-future second American Civil War. Nor are you expected to figure them out. The war started four or five years before the first scene of the movie, and none of the people in this movie are still interested in debating why the war. There are three sides, and while there are people who say that the Western Forces are Democrats and the Florida Alliance are Republicans and the Federal Army are Trumpist, they are reading their own prejudices into way too few background clues and ignoring the other background clues that contradict that theory.

I know that every American who sees this movie is watching to find out which army is "on my side," which one they're supposed to be rooting for, and that is not a movie that Alex Garland wanted to make. You are supposed to be rooting for the war to just be over and elections to resume. Because that's what every civilian and every soldier wants, and nearly all the unlawful combatants. And also ...

This is not a war movie. If you want the (somehow, to you anyway) relaxing catharsis of cheering while lots of military hardware gets used? You are going to hate Civil War because this movie is, to borrow an older metaphor, Tomorrowland to your Mad Max: Glory Road. Garland made this movie to shame you particularly if you like war movies. The total amount of combat footage in this movie probably doesn't reach 20 minutes, and our main viewpoint character for the final battle sequence is a traumatized civilian.

One last thing I can say before diving behind a spoiler warning, though: it is an amazing technical movie, this thing should win all the technical Oscars next year. In particular, the principal photography is the best I've ever seen and the way it mixes (and sometimes un-mixes!) the separate audio tracks perfectly manipulates the tension level. And all four lead actors put their whole selves into these parts and held nothing back.

So what is this movie if it's not a political movie or a war movie? I can't tell you that without diving at least partway into spoiler territory, so ...

Alex Garland wants to prove two things in this movie:

Life in a failed state sucks ass. Yes, even if you're nowhere near the combat zone. And ...

War correspondents and combat photographers themselves wonder if what they're doing is making any difference, but they're heroes for trying.

The journalists themselves can't point to a single time what they do prevented or stopped a war, and they very much wonder if they're just adrenaline-addicted glory-hogs. But even not even knowing if what they're doing will ever save a single life, they are absolute fucking heroes. They put themselves at insane risk because this is the only thing that they know how to do and if it has any chance of saving lives, of preventing or stopping war, it has to be tried.

Our main cast are four journalists: an elderly war correspondent, a middle aged war correspondent, a middle aged combat photographer, and a (too) young combat photographer on a mission:

They start in Federally occupied NYC, reporting on anti-regime protests and terrorist attacks. They've heard rumors about the actual war. Right now the front line is a three-way battle for control of Charleston, South Carolina. They've heard that the Westerners and the Floridians are going to fight each other to the death as soon as they push the Federals out of the Carolinas, and then on July 4th, just a week away or so, the likely winners, the Westerners, are nearly certain to seize the capitol. They think the 5 year war is almost over, and are trying to figure out how to cover the end. This is, like, literally the whole of the first two scenes.

The old guy wants to cover the battle of Charleston "for whatever is left of the New York Times" and then retire. The three younger journalists have an even crazier idea: skip the battle of Charleston and use the last remaining highway into/out of DC to outrun the Western Forces and cover the fall of the White House.

So the overwhelming majority of the movie is a several day, many hundred mile road trip in an armored car marked PRESS. This involves driving west to Pittsburgh and then back east to Charleston, to get around the combat zone, which results in the real main part of the movie:

The road trip is intended to show you how much the combination of anarchy, localized paranoia, and fear of looters is driving various levels of savagery far from the war zone, which the reporters and photographers keep stopping to document.

It ends with the race to keep up with the Western forces so they can cover the fall of the White House, which is the only long combat scene in the movie, and it is incredibly intense, and very loud and scary, and nobody except maybe the kid photographer covers themselves in glory.

And every scene of it tells the same didactic message, told in about a dozen different ways: when the war is over, whether or not you were "on the right side" is going to matter a lot less than the horror you lived through, and wartime journalists put themselves through hell to try to prove that to you before it's too late.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for decrying my close friend letting an e-boy close to her when it's caused problems before? a friend of mine (25) who i've known for 8+ years is a roleplayer (+ERP) in a videogame and i (27) have watched a couple of dudes now meet them and catch feelings for them through these roleplays and instantly become obsessive creeps. [ for the record, i used to roleplay as well but stopped because of similar situations. so i'm not a stranger to roleplay or anything. I am also aware of the "it's in character so it doesn't matter" "it's in-game so it doesn't matter" mindsets but these events are creating real emotional / sexual connections between the people so it's growing beyond being just "in-game" ] recently they broke connection with someone over this, but it took them weeks of debate to do it, and they were dealing with the falloff for a while. it really hurt them! [for additional context, it's happened before that these people have talked such sweet nothings to her that she's gotten feelings back and would send sexual images and videos to these people, just for them to instantly 180 and start being sleazeballs] she recently started roleplaying again and already another dude is in her dms telling her he has a crush on her, and all these sweet nothings etc. i went out and met the guy because we played together and not only is he frequently seen hitting on other girls (also has a stripper pole in his in-game bedroom??) in-call he was extremely objectifying. bragging about all the people he's been with, talking about wanting "goth mommy" (which my friend is extremely outspoken about despising), he would ONLY talk about sexual shit, and anytime anyone said anything he would make a sexual comment, etc. red flag city. when i told her about it she said she had no idea and that they talked it out, but it sounded a lot like they just passed over the problems. not even a week later now and they're getting in-game married (big social event, costs a good bit of money) and i'm not attending because i won't support it. she's upset about this and we're at odds because to her it's "just roleplay" despite the real money being spent, and the people who have come before who had done the same things nearly 1:1 and created massive problems. i even found an old DM from her complaining about a friend of hers who had done the same thing (guy had feelings for her, in a week he was into someone else and getting married) the outcome of all of this is me feeling like i'm an asshole for not just ignoring the red flags and wishing her well. i'm conflicted because i don't want to just let her hurt herself but i also don't want to be like controlling or mean AITA?

What are these acronyms?

[thanook]

when i was young i used to always wear a crucifix necklace everywhere i went, and it was great because that was a good symbol of who i was, a little normal cishet conservative christian. now i am old enough to admit that none of those things are true, but i really wanted to go back to wearing a recognizable symbol of who i am, the problem being that i cant get myself to identify a single icon that is recognizable, safe to wear entirely correct:

despite agreeing with a lot of their points, im not really an anarchist, and political movements like antifacism almost dont exist in brazil; im not wearing a pride flag with these crime rates, and even if i were to, im not entire sure which; atheism doesnt have any recognizable symbol, and its really not that big of a deal; the only recognizable symbol for autism is that goddamn puzzle piece and even ignoring autism speaks announcing that i have autism to the world is overrall a bad idea (and a card that i wont be able pull on people lmao); linux maybe? but im not that big into tech; any obvious furry icon is out of the question, but a more descrete one may be put into debate, however it has to have a secondary explanation, in the case someone asks why im wearing a cheese grater;

you folks have any suggestions? it can be meaningless, but the objective here is something with meaning.

[tinydeskwriter]

CINEMA {prologue}

A/n: This is the prologue of my new little series, that I am unsure yet how long it will be, my ideia is of making the ‘chapters’ like blurbs, I am always open to suggestions, you can send a anonymous ask or massage me privately. For this story, I am breaking up Holivia ahead of the beginning of Love on Tour. In my head Y/n faceclaim is Anya Taylor Joy, so I apologize ahead if in any moment I use some of her physical characteristics, I have been obsessed with the idea of Harry and Anya since they are supposed to be in a project together and both dropped out😔

word count:1664

Don’t Call Me Baby

“Hey Love, what’s up?” Harry asked sweetly. 

He had initially thought about ignoring his phone, until he grabbed it to turn it dawn and saw ‘My Love♥️’ on the screen— he never got around to change it after they broke up in 2015, and it wasn’t as if the sentiment had changed, she was still his love—, he untangled himself from Olivia, getting up from the couch and stepping out in the backyard.

Olivia straightened up on the couch, watching Harry walking close by the pool, brows furrowed as he listened to the person on the other end. Of course she knew who it was that her boyfriend was talking to. There was only one other person for whom he reserved all the same nicknames as hers—Y/n. Olivia wasn’t a jealous or insecure woman until she had met the model-turned-actress and watched first hand how Harry and her acted around each other. 

She had came to accept after those first interactions with the younger woman and as her own relationship with Harry deepened, that if there was ever a situation where Y/n and her were in the same place, he would always go to Y/n first—it happened a lot on set when Y/n joined the cast in January as Violet, after the originally chosen actress had to leave the project—.

She got a little jealous from time to time. There was something in the way everyone around assumed Y/n and Harry are a couple, how he took Y/n to the Grammy’s instead of her, or how he took the other’s side after the fiasco that had been her interview to the younger podcast back in June—a interview that was supposed to put down the rumors surrounding Florence and her, but after being put in between a interview with a therapist about cheating and a debate about the fake feminism in Hollywood, fueled the fire of the gossips—. 

“Tell me what is wrong my love, your sobbing is breaking my heart.” Harry’s accent thickened, and worry was written all around his face. 

Olivia pushed herself from the couch, approached the glass door, eyebrows knitted together in curiosity, and as soon as she had asked ‘What’s up’, Harry simply raised his hand to silence her. 

“That bastard…”His expression morphed into one of anger. “Are you home?” He immediately went back inside the house. “Do you need me to come over?”

Olivia only raised her eyebrows to her boyfriend’s back. She already knew it wasn’t a question, Harry would be leaving her for Y/n no matter what, and he probably wouldn’t be back until the next day.

It wasn’t the first time.

Harry cut their couple’s trip to Italy short because Miss Model was suffering with anxiety and panic attacks days before showing the first unfinished cut of her debut feature to the Warner Executives. 

Olivia’s almost dislike for Y/n came from the care her boyfriend showed the girl. They even fought over it. 

Harry just wasn’t the best at communicating, at least with her.

She had no problem with their friendship, except that said friendship always came first, no matter what.

“I am with Liv right now, but I can be at your place in forty minutes.” He said already putting shoes on, his phone between his shoulder and ear. “Fifty-five if I stop by that Italian restaurant to pick up your favorite.”

He stayed silent for a moment, listening to whatever Y/n was saying, a stubborn expression on his handsome face, she knew by the way his eyes quickly went her way that Y/n must have said something about her.

“Love, you never bother, we aren’t doing anything, either way it wouldn’t matter, if you’re not alright, you know I would drop anything.”Harry said too honestly, completely forgetting his girlfriend in earshot. 

Olivia was certain she felt he heart shatter.

Harry only seemed to notice her again after Olivia walked in front of him to get to the bedrooms. 

“Y/n/n, baby, you’re not okay and I won’t leave you by yourself. I’ll just get my keys, we see each other in a bit, but call if you need anything.” He ended the call before she could protest.

He found Olivia in their shared bedroom, his keys in hand. 

“He has been cheating on her…”The man stops in his tracks when he notices his girlfriend going around putting a few of her things in a overnight bag.

“What are you doing?”Harry asks surprised, finally seeming to register that something is of with his girlfriend of almost a year.

“I’am leaving,”She snapped her head at him, emotion visible in her green eyes, “I’ll spend the night with the kids.”

“What’s wrong?” He seemed slightly worried.

“What isn’t?” There was frustration in her words. “You always drop everything for her! It’s always her! Of course no one would believe in our relationship when you act the way you do around her!” The director accused. “I feel like a placeholder, I am here until she wants you again and you go running.”

Olivia was overreacting in his eyes. He didn’t want to leave her for shits and giggles, Y/n was going through a difficult moment, he couldn’t bring himself into leaving her on her own. He had hope that Olivia, as a older and mature woman would understand and not let herself be carried by insecurity.

He felt deja-vu. It was like Camille all over again.

“She just found out she’s been cheated, I can leave her alone at this moment.” Harry tried to explain himself.

“Harry, you’re only here with me after making sure she doesn’t need you first,” Olivia accused him in a calm—if hurt—tone, “she’s your first call after every good news, or when you are sad or in a bad mood. She was your date to the fucking Grammy’s!”

He shook his head.

“You’re not been fair.”

Olivia looked at him, eyes wide open.

“Jeff was right.” She said shaking her head. “He was drunk, probably doesn’t even remember he said it, but he did, Jeffrey said she’s your muse, your first love and the owner of your heart and mind, he then went on: she’s the Sun he orbits around, all the others are stars, what is a mere star when compared to the Sun?” She laughed in disbelief, running a hand through her hair. “Does everybody knows? Was I the only clueless one?”

“You sound crazy.” He said harshly, cursing Jeff in his mind for opening his mouth.

“H, you’re in love with her, can you admit it to yourself?!” Olivia accused him.

“I’m not in love with her!” He said like a bad rehearsed script.

Even to his own ears his words sounded false and without conviction.

“It’s just… We have history, I love her deeply. Seeing her getting hurt, it guts me… it tears me apart. I can’t help it how I feel…”He said truthfully, avoiding his girlfriend’s eyes. 

“Harry, do you even hear yourself?” Olivia asked, sitting by the foot of the bed. “Do you even feel this deep about me?”

He knew what she was asking truly: Do you love me?

And the fact that he had to pause to think in itself was already a horrible answer.

He cared about Olivia, deeply, he felt romantically about her, did the feelings compare? No.

It gutted him the simple notion of not having Y/n in his life in whatever capacity. He needed her smile, and her laugh. Those big eyes that looked at him with love and appreciation, that always made him feel worth of something and less like a fraud. The way her hands stoked his hair on his bad days. Or how she always called him My Love with a ‘smiling voice’.

He knew that he was able to live without Liv in his life, it would hurt a little at first, but Y/n would be there as the antidote.

“It’s different. I love you…”

“But you love her more.” She said sarcastically.

“I never compared.” He denied, running his hand through his hair a nervous way. “Baby…”

Harry felt defeated.

“Don’t call me baby…”

Olivia scoffed, feeling dumb, she should have note it the moment she met Y/n. But she was lost in the feeling of new love, feeling young and… free, as cliche as it may sound.

She remember all the times she felt like she was ‘competing’ with the younger woman. It was never a competition. 

Its impossible to compete with someone that already won without even being in the competition.

Olivia got up, smiling small, she too felt defeated, but she would, if nothing else, be a gracious loser, even if her heart was being shattered on the way. She swung her bag over her shoulder, kissing his face on the way out. 

“You should at least admit it to yourself.” The older women said looking into his eyes. 

She was already waiting for him by the door, security must have warned her of his arrival at the gate, wrapped in a silk kimono, she smiled when he got out of the car.

“I am sorry for the delay.” He said carrying the bags with food from out of the car.

“Thank you for coming, my Love.” She said against his t-shirt, hugging his middle.

He grabbed her face with both hands, making her look up to him.

“Nothing would keep me from being with you when you need me, Baby.”

She smiled, and just like that, everything was good again for him. 

Y/n stretched out on her tiptoes, giving him a peck on the lips. A act of greeting so customary between them, but that this time made his heart race in his chest.

Olivia’s words fresh in his mind, mixing with the accusations screamed at him by Camille years before.

“Let’s go in, it’s a little chill outside.” She hold his free hand in hers. “Are you staying the night?” Y/n ask looking up to him.

“For as long as you need me.” Harry smiles back. 

Next Part

Taglist: @slutforcoffein ; @lilsiz

[cybernetic-side-eye]

Hi Commander Wolffe (I remind myself you said that was okay.)

I'm sorry to bother you, and I know you probably won't even see this before my self-made mini-crisis is over, so don't worry about that. But I just wanted to try to distract myself a little bit. And I'm sorry, but you're the one I go to when I'm worried about my vision. (That'll teach you to be nice to me!)

And I'll say right off the bat I know you're not a doctor, and you don't know anything about eye/vision problems, especially in my universe, I'm just using you as a distraction (again, sorry.)

A few years ago I had surgeries to remove the floaters (the gray squiggly worm type) from both eyes. But after that I still had a black dot or two that would float through my vision sometimes. The kind that would make me think a gnat was flying around me or something like that. Not enough to bother my vision, just a little annoying.

I mentioned it to my doctors, and they all say there is nothing in my eye. They see no black dots anywhere. So they don't know what it is. I've asked 2 retinal specialists, a glaucoma specialist, an optometrist who monitors my pressures, and my optometrist who prescribes my glasses. They all say there is nothing there. The optometrist did say, "I've had other people tell me they have that, but we don't know what it is."

So I've just learned to live with it. I'd say it's half the time I see them, and they're easily ignored.

But today when I woke up there was a different one. Different shaped (more of a splotch than an actual dot) and a little bigger. And it seems to stay in the far right of my vision. It's big enough I thought it was a bug crawling on me at one point. But it's not BIG, just bigger than the others. And I see them today too.

I've been debating if I should go to the ER (since it's the weekend, no one is in any of my doctors' offices.) But I don't know if ERs even have ophthalmologists around or on call. And I don't know if a regular MD would know what to look for.

I'm probably not going to go. I haven't seen it for the last 5 minutes. Maybe it's fine. I'm sure it's fine. I just worry a lot.

So as a distraction, I wanted to ask if you had a story of a time with your brothers that brought you joy. You have the whole "grumpy" persona on display a lot, but I'm sure you have fun and enjoy stuff too. Especially with your brothers. And it could be when you were younger or now or anything.

Or if you don't have any stories you want to share, maybe just what some of your favorites are? Like color, weather, pastime, beverage?

Or maybe just what you're up to right now (at the time you see this, that is.)

As I said, I'm writing this to distract myself more than anything. Sorry to bother you, but thank you for making me feel comfortable enough that I was able to distract myself with writing this.

Take care,

Carol (@clonethirstingisreal)

You don't have to apologize for anything. I don't interact out of obligation and wouldn't be here if I didn't want to be. I know firsthand how scary it is when your eyes don't work correctly. To me, it sounds like you're taking some time to think through your options.

I know I can be a grump or come across as overly serious, but that's only because it takes me time to get comfortable in certain situations. I think it's a good time for a story, though. I think @capt-traitor would be fine with me sharing this.

Gregor and I were headed back to triple zero. A bunch of commandos ended up working with the 104th and it was a difficult campaign. While the battle was won, the damage to this one village was particularly awful and even though we got everyone to safety, we were all tired on the flight back. We were what you might call "tired drunk" and for whatever reason, Gregor decided to start talking about how we should get out more. The conversation essentially went like this:

Gregor: When was the last time you went dancing? Me: Never. Gregor: There's your problem! You need to get out more. Swing that kama around. Show the people what you're working with. Let off some steam! Me: I don't swing for just anyone. Gregor: I think you mean something else besides what that sounds like, but that's not important right now. Get up. Me: What? Gregor: Stand up.

Cue Gregor grabbing my hands, pulling me up, and holding me like we're about to waltz. I was too tired to argue, but that man can dance. First he led and hummed while teaching me some steps. Then he had me lead. I don't know where he learned it, but there was just something ridiculous and fun about learning to dance after a series of such long days. We turned on some music and - as Comet would say - we were vibing. Let lose, danced like we were at a club instead of attempting to be fancy, and certain that no one could hear us. At some point we waddled down to the mess in a sleepy daze, broke in without waking anyone up, and grabbed some barely edible ration bars.

Only, @commander-stabby had overheard everything because he was trying to sleep next door. He found us sitting on the floor of the mess kitchen, half-asleep, trying to find the energy to make caf. Gregor looked up at him and asked "You dance, commander?"

[save-the-villainous-cat]

could you continue on the story you had for the poor hero x millionaire villain?

pt. 1

The villain sat down reluctantly. Although their concern and regret seemed to be genuine, the hero wasn’t able to accept this.

“I appreciate it. I do.” They reached for a second cup and watched as the water started to boil. “But it’s fine. I wouldn’t even accept a cent from you. It’s not personal. It’s not to torture you.”

“Well, you are torturing me,” the villain said.

“I don’t mean to.”

“But you are.” The hero turned around and looked at their nemesis.

“Black coffee?” they asked gently, ignoring how the villain scrutinised them tragically. The villain went with a hand through their hair, sighing in defeat. They nodded. “Turkish?”

“Yes.”

“I know you’re trying to manipulate me. You’re trying to make me feel bad for not taking the money,” the hero said softly as they poured the steaming hot water into the cups. Their eyes were drawn to the little bubbles that formed on top of the water’s surface.

“Do you think what you’re doing is heroic? Deciding to suffer in poverty when you have the chance to get out of it? Do you think people will admire you for that?” the villain asked. Still focused on the coffee, the hero took both cups and turned around, scared to burn themselves. They walked over to the table, placing one cup in front of the villain, the other in front of themselves. At last, they put a spoon into the villain’s cup.

“I think you could give that money to someone who needs it more than I do,” they said as they sat down. The old chair sighed under their weight, more a result of the chair’s age than the hero’s physical condition.

“Well, I don’t like anyone beside you.” And that was the problem, wasn’t it? The hero took in a deep breath, debating if these feelings were coming from their side, too.

“That’s a little sad,” they whispered. They looked around the small kitchen and truly, they couldn’t remember when they had accepted this kind of life. Saving people was their priority and despite the negative aspects, they enjoyed it. The poverty was a sad side effect and they had just accepted it. It wasn’t optimal, they knew that. But they could be doing a lot worse.

At least they had something. Right?

They’d always thought it didn’t affect them that much, that they could live with it easily.

“And a little intimate. You feel guilty because you fancy me.”

The villain stirred the coffee with the spoon and didn’t answer for a long time. However, the hero saw the soft blush on their cheeks.

“Fancy is a big word.” They put the spoon into the hero’s cup.

And the hero didn’t quite know what to do with that. Sharing this one spoon, this one thing, despite their disagreements on absolutely everything made them long for more of it. More of drinking coffee together, more of talking, more of sharing a spoon. It was silly, but the hero hadn’t realised how isolated they were.

They hadn’t touched anyone in months, except for getting punched a few times. Talking to someone was just as rare as money.

People had turned away from them once this had become normal. Friends, family, colleagues…some had offered money too and then judged them for not taking it.

And the hero had just made their peace with it. God, they were such a fool for thinking poverty wouldn’t make them miserable.

“I’m gonna say this one last time.” The villain had to blow on the coffee before they took a sip. It was still too hot, so they grimaced. “Take the money. Or you won’t get me out of your hair.”

“No,” the hero said. “Give it to someone else. You can’t force me.”

“Oh, I can, little hero. I can.” The villain leaned back casually, studying the hero’s face. “That coffee is shit.”

“What? Are you gonna kidnap me?”

“Tempting. But no. I will buy this house, turn it into a fucking palace and fill your fridge up to the brim every day.”

“I hate you,” the hero said, giving up on protesting. They felt defeated, they were tired of fighting and maybe, maybe they were tired of living like this.

“You wish you did.”

[esmeblaise]

Finally watch beetlejuice 2! It was great but i have some... Notes

Lets start of with the positives because I did enjoy this movie, and a lot of its because of why i liked the first movie. The characters, the world, the aesthetic, the music

Delia Deetz was hilarious

They even answered some questions! How beetlejuice died, where lydias mother was, even why the maitlands werent in the house which i thought theyd completely ignore

They did however miss a few things

Lydia could see ghosts because they were both strange and unusual, her parents could because they got traumatized and it opened their world view, Astrid... Hit her head after nearly being run over? I guess it was a near death experience

And those who work in the afterlife as civil servants are supposed to be people who committed suicide (though i guess wether this is strictly adheared to in the first one is up for debate)

But ignoring these minor plot holes this movies biggest problem is that it has too much going on

Every character has their own a plot leaving no room for fleshing any of them out

Beej has his ex trying to kill everone and his expanded buisness, astrid has a murderous ghost bf her and the relationship with her parents, theres the netherworld case worker chasing everyone, and delia handling charles death in just the beat way possible

Then Lydia has the trauma from beej, her strange ghost show, the death of her father, her estranged relationship with her daughter, her horrible fiance, and two impending marriages

Just ONE of these plots would make a goodovie but all together

In the end it feels like a very bloated movie where nothing happens and no one really interacts, a swiss pocket watch where all the gears spin independently of each other

I barely even saw the three villains yeah three not including beetlejuice!

Honestly just removing those three extra characters would streamline the whole movie

What if instead when Astrid goes to the attic she finds the handbook and the old door, following the instructions cause she thinks its fake and then entering because its yknow a portal

Lydia knows she cant find her on her own so she call beetlejuice and makes a deal with him (if you want to keep the ex really focus on how this marriage is beejs chance to escape her and just how big a threat she truly is)

Astrid gets locked up by the caseworker for being a living person in the netherworld (another plot they tried to give lydia that went nowhere) and astrid uses her time to study the book so she can set up knowing the rules later

Meanwhile delia does a seance to contact charles and instead accidentally contacts astrid or lydia and acts as a sort of telephone rather than just dying and then doing nothing

Then a big focus of the movie is trying to find astrid before all the boring paperwork goes through to trap her in the afterlife and maybe have the danger of the ex going after them (if you really want to go all out maybe the caseworker keeps blaming beetlejuice for all the destruction the ex causes since hes a criminal which makes it even harder to avoid)

They can work on the trauma they have together, beej from his crazy ex and lydia from hers (beej) and beetlejuice could even explain he went after her as a trauma response from his first marriage

They find astrid and make it out but have to go through with the wedding, unkown to them the ex highjacked delias body while she was being a spirit phone so she could follow to the living realm (seriously how did all those ghosts just...show up in the end??)

Using her knowledge of the handbook astrid gets rid of ex (maybe stabbing deliah with her sculpture as some sort of callback?) and finds a loophole in the contract

Deliah so she still dies to be with charles but now shes done something, astrid can save the day but theres a set up, lydia reconnects with her daughter by actually going after her (a lot like charles and lydia in the musical) and beetlejuice and lydia can have a enemy buddy cop thing going on where they work past their traumas together and become not friends but better off

Same plot points but streamlined so the focus is where it should be

Like I said, it was a good movie, I think they just had too many ideas and a fear they wouldnt get another chance so they just crammed it all in one movie instead of letting us breath

Except for delia, woman carried the movie in every scene she was in

[myautismisnowyourproblem]

Rendoc fluff because of the category 5 Doc tweet mans brought this on himself.

Doc frowned as he struggled to move his mechanical arm. Despite specifically designing it to be waterproof to protect the precious redstone circuitry, it somehow got waterlogged after Doc was out too long in this rainstorm.

It would be just a little bit longer and he would be home, but until then he had to hope the damage wouldn’t get worse as he held his umbrella over his head.

Doc didn’t like rain in general, and especially not when it managed to find a hole in Doc’s waterproofing.

When he finally made it to his house, he tried to transfer the umbrella to his mechanical hand, but the thing jerked when he tried to grab it so he huffed and, trying ro ignore how ridiculous this would look but knowing he didn’t have any other options, put the shaft of the umbrella in his mouth and knocked, hoping Ren was home so he wouldn’t have to fish for his keys.

Doc heard click of the door being unlocked and sagged in relief, moving to get inside the house.

“Dude!” Ren protested even as he moved out of his way to let him in, “you’re going to get water everywhere!”

Doc took his umbrella out of his mouth and grunted. “I’ll clean it up, it’s just water,” he said as he shook out the umbrella.

“Uh, Doc? Your- here let me get that for you,” Ren closed the door before taking the umbrella from Doc, who nodded in thanks, and closed and put it away. Doc took note of the way Ren’s ears were twitching nervously.

“I’ll be fine, I’ll take it off and fix it-”

“With your arm jerking around like that?” Ren argued. “At least let me help take it off.” Doc opened his mouth to argue, but then the mechanical arm spasmed and Doc saw his boyfriend’s point.

The two walked over to Doc’s workshop in the basement. An aggressive twitch that nearly pushed them both down the stairs made Doc seriously begin to regret choosing the basement for his workshop.

Once they were finally fully in the workshop, Doc sat down awkwardly. One problem with being a creeper hybrid is that having four legs can be an absolute nightmare to manage sometimes. Not as bad as centaurs because at least his knees can handle sitting and laying down unlike the evolutionary failure that was the horse, but still awkward.

Ren grabbed the tools and began working at removing Doc’s prosthetic. Because it needed to connect to Doc’s nerves to allow him to actually move it, it was painful to put on and remove. Doc designed it to be able to adjust one-handed, of course, but every time his arm twitched, so did the rest of his body. His arm simply wasn’t steady enough.

This wasn’t the first time Ren helped Doc with his prosthetic, even thought he far preferred to do it himself. After a lot of convincing, Doc had taught Ren how to remove the arm, put the arm on him, and do simple fixes on it about five months after they moved in together. After that Ren had only messed with Doc’s arm a few times (even though the man was not very talented with mechanics). He clearly still remembered what Doc told him, which made something warm blossom in his chest as the arm was deactivated and placed on the table.

“Thank you,” Doc said quietly. He knew Ren’s sensitive ears would still pick up on it.

Ren smirked. “Thank you for letting me,” he replied easily, beginning to walk upstairs. “Now, I’m going to make you something to eat and you’re going to get comfy, yeah?”

Doc smiled as he followed Ren. “What exactly does ‘get comfy’ entail?”

“Warm up with a blanket and clean pajamas,” Ren elaborated.

Doc nodded. “I can do that.”

Ren giggled. The two wordlessly split ways as Ren moved to the kitched while Doc moved to the bathroom to dry himself off. Once that was done he went to the bedroom and removed his soaking wet clothes, tossing them into the hamper. He debated for a moment before grabbing a sleeveless pastel pink nightgown and putting it on. Most of Doc’s clothes had one sleeve removed anyway to accommodate the arm, but it felt nice to wear something designed to have no sleeves. Also, Doc and Ren had an inside joke about wearing pink, and even though he wouldn’t ever admit it out loud, it made him feel warm and happy whenever he wore the color.

He grabbed his favorite blanket and moved into the living room, sitting in front of the fireplace with the blanket wrapped around his shoulders.

Ren and Doc were quiet for a bit. It was broken by Ren, saying “I told you to wait another day to return, you know.”

Doc groaned, but Ren’s change from concern to banter was enough of a relief that he genuinely smiled almost as wide as his face (which was limited by missing facial muscles) would allow. “Dear, you know I’ve been through far worse than some rain. Besides, damaging the arm is a sacrifice I’m willing to make if it means seeing you.”

He turned and looked ofer the kitchen counter at Ren, who was suspiciously looking away from Doc in an attempt to hide his flustered blush.

Doc laughed, and Ren did too. It’s a nice sound. Doc thinks it might be his favorite.

[mynotsohealthyobsession]

Disembodied 7/8

Warning: Mention of death // Angst // Fluff

Pairings: Adrian Raines X MC // Nik Ryder X MC

Words: 1.300

Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3 // Part 4 // Part 5 // Part 6

As always, tags in the reblog!

"Are you nervous?" Adrian asked, attentively looking at Amy. They were in a private room of his lab, where two beds had been set up for her and Alex. It was a small space but it had everything they could possibly need to assist them if there was a problem. 

"A little." He smiled at her, compassionate and supportive. 

"Everything will be fine. I promise." He tried to reassure her… And himself. "Even Ryder gave his approval." He added, with a slightly sarcastic tone.

"Because Nik is such an expert in the potion terrain,” Alex commented as Nik rolled his eyes while Amy let out a small chuckle.

“There are many things you still don’t know about me, rook.”

“If you say so.” Both women walked to the beds, looking at each other for a moment, before sitting on the mattresses. Amy took Alex’s hand, squeezing it. “I hope this works,” Alex said, her eyes fixed on the woman in front of her. Fixed on her own face. Alex returned the gesture.

“Me too.” Amy sighed. “Drinks on me if it does.” Alex giggled and Amy let a little smile out.

“You got yourself a deal.” They stood in silence until Adrian, gently clearing his throat, called their attention. 

“If you are both ready, we may start.” He pointed to the scientists in the door who were carrying two identical glasses with the potion. Amy looked at Alex again and she nodded.

“We are.” As the liquid ran down Amy's throat, Adrian closely observed her. Amy, from Alex's body, looked at him as she was lying down. She winked at him although her smile was small and nervous. He walked over to her. 

"I'll be right here." He knelt beside her and gently kissed her forehead. "Waiting for you."

"You've been doing that a lot lately." Adrian chuckled, holding her hand. 

"I don’t mind." His fingers softly caress her hair.

“A man who doesn't mind waiting?” She leaned on his touch. “How did I get so lucky?” He softly chuckled again and sweetly smiled at her.

“You are worth any wait, Amy.” She blinked slowly and heavily. “And, believe me, I’m the lucky one.”

"Debatable." His hand cupped her right cheek, softly brushing with his thumb the soft skin under it. “Adrian… If this doesn't work, if anything happens…”

“I won't let anything bad happen to you, Amy. Not ever again.” Her eyes slowly drifted close as the potion quickly kicked on. 

“I just don't want you to feel guilty.” She whispered as her breathing became shallow and her heartbeat slowed down drastically, her skin pale and a bit cooler as he tried to ignore the similarities with the night in the Met, ignoring his fear of losing her again. 

“I won't be feeling anything more than happiness when you wake up.” With a small move of her head, she nodded. “And you will wake up sound and safe, Amy.” He said, desperately trying to believe his own words. “I promise.”

"See you soon." She said in a barely audible murmur.

"See you soon." He repeated as her hand went limp in his hold. He kissed her knuckles and reluctantly freed her hand, standing up. 

***

Nik watched warily while Alex took the potion. He knew it was the right decision, and so far the only possible solution they had found, but, at the end of the day, he wasn’t ecstatic about it. He watched how her lips touched the glass and how in one fast motion, the liquid had disappeared. She lay on the mattress, and after one second of hesitation, he sat beside her. Amy and Adrian were softly speaking beside them so he just focused on her. “Alex…” With a little hesitation, he guided his hand towards hers, taking it as gently as possible. “I will be watching over you, rook.”

“Because you have to?” 

“‘Cause… You are important to me.” He noticed the tiny smile that lifted the corners of her lips and the light squeeze of her fingers around his. 

“Glad to hear it.” She sighed deeply, her head falling to the side as her eyelids felt heavy like she hadn't slept in days. “I know there's a lot we need to talk about… And that a lot has happened lately but… I’m glad you are here, Nik.”

“There’s no other place in the world I would prefer to be, Alex.” Her eyes were finally closed and her whole body seemed drained, looking vulnerable as the day that Thomas attacked her. He stood, almost at the same time as Raines, and walked beside him to the chairs in front of the beds.

A few minutes later, Nik cut the silence. "You know, I didn't know vampires could be so... sappy," Adrian smirked at Nik's words.

"Of course we can. We are not nighthunters after all." He crossed his arms over his chest, never looking away from the two women.

"C'mon Raines, I did my homework." Adrian turned his focus to him and lifted his brow. "Your past precedes you, pal." 

"It might. I won't deny that I have done … dreadful things in my past. Things I'm not proud of, but I deeply regret them." For a moment, Nik saw pain and regret in his face. He wondered if he had the same expression when he talked about his own past. “But I changed. I left all that behind me.”

"Does she know?" Nik asked with a head gesture referring to Amy.

"Most of it." Nik nodded, pensive. “She’s a Bloodkeeper. I wouldn’t be able to hide my past from her even if I wanted to.” He smiled, looking proud of Amy. "And I don’t want to. She deserves honesty." For a moment the only sound in the lab room was the distant noise of the machines from the other part of the lab. Both Amy's and Alex's heartbeats had slowed to a near stop. “Does Alex know about your private conversation with the Fate?” Nik narrowed his eyes with suspicion and Adrian smirked. “I did my homework as well.” He considered Raines' words, assessing his answer. 

“No. She didn’t say much.”

“I see.” Adrian looked at the timer that had been set up above the beds. Only forty minutes had passed and the nerves were settling in by the second. 

Nik stood, taking a few steps around. “Goddammit.” He said, frustrated, stopping in front of Alex's body. “This is torture.”

“I agree.” Adrian put his hands together, tightly, until he sighed and relaxed again. “But unfortunately, there's nothing we can do right now. Just wait.”

“I know that,” Nik said with clear irritation in his voice. “You seem calm, tho.”

“I'm terrified,” Adrian responded with such sincerity that Nik turned to watch him, surprised, as the vampire walked to the side of Amy's bed with a complex look in his eyes. “It's the second time that I have to watch Amy unconscious for hours desperately wanting that she will be okay. The second time I'm scared to lose her.” A deep sigh escaped him. “Feeling powerless to help her.”

“...I understand the sentiment.” Nik put his bow against the wall, near to him but lowering his ward for the first time. “If Alex doesn't wake up…” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I really hurt her, you know? I need to fix it.” He trailed off, with regret. “I can't lose her. Not again.”

“It seems our concerns are similar.” Adrian took off his blazer and loosened the tie around his neck.

“Looks like it.” Seconds turned to minutes and minutes to hours as time slowly passed. According to Ivy, the minimum waiting time was five hours, and the maximum time was eight hours. If the clock marked more, the results could be catastrophic.

✨️

[amelia201]

First kiss

- 4K (finished)

- Soukoku High School AU

- Sweet wholesome tooth-rotting fluff

- A bit of internalized homophobia on Chuuya's part because he is so not gay

- If this feels like it's inspired by "What's Your Name", you're very right (but VERY loosely).

Chuuya is a new kid at school Dazai goes to and he is instantly head over heels for him but Chuuya claims that he isn’t gay. Still, he became friends with Dazai, even though somewhat reluctantly. They don’t see each other outside of their literature class and gym, but occasionally they have run-ins with one another in the local arcade.

It was all good until one day Chuuya let it slip that he finds that dating a man is kinda weird. He didn’t think it was normal, even if he had nothing against it. Dazai didn’t say anything to that, he just hummed and went back to playing on his phone.

Chuuya didn’t think twice about it.

It’s all well and good for Chuuya, new school, lots of new friends until he noticed that Dazai is acting weird.

Sitting by himself a lot, reading during class, sometimes even taking a nap. Teachers were weirdly not paying attention to it, and it was only later when one of Chuuya’s friends whispered to him that it was because he was the principal’s kid, so he could kinda do what he wanted as long as he got good grades.

Chuuya found it… odd, at the very least. Dazai acted more reserved every day towards him, didn’t come to the arcade, and then one day he didn’t come to class. And then the next. And the next.

Until he reappeared almost three weeks later, looking…. Different. Half of his body was wrapped in bandages, and Chuuya immediately came up to him asking what the hell happened. Only instead of a smile and an explanation he got told to piss off.

Nakahara was very confused. Yeah, they weren’t the closest of friends, but surely, Dazai didn’t have to be so rude to him.

“What’s your problem?” He asked, annoyed.

“A tiny slug is in my face, asking for things that don’t concern him is my problem.”

Chuuya felt like he wanted to punch Dazai, but he knew he’d be the one getting in trouble, so he let it go.

More time went on, and it became painfully obvious that Dazai didn’t really talk to… anyone, anymore. He spent a lot of his time with their literature teacher, Oda, but aside from that, nobody saw Osamu at social gatherings or anywhere outside of class.

Chuuya didn’t know why it bothered him so much. They have only known each other for three months, he shouldn’t be this pressed about it, right?

He spent his days with Yuan and Shiraze, going to classes and the arcade with them, a couple of parties here and there. Normal stuff.

But then one day he sawDazai at the arcade again. By himself. Not playing anything, just kinda standing in a corner, looking at the machines like he didn’t know what to do with them.

Chuuya told his friends he’d be right back, debating how to approach Dazai. He wasn’t sure that he should, but… something must have been going on for him to be acting in such a way.

“Oi, Dazai,” he greeted, leaning on a game machine they used to play together, “how are you?”

Osamu looked at him with a blank stare.

“Chuuya. Didn’t know I’d run into you. We’ll leave.”

“Huh!? What? Who’s we?”

“Wouldn’t want to ruin your Saturday.”

Now Chuuya was most certainly confused. What the hell? Was Dazai mad at something? Then why didn’t he say anything?

“Dazai, I don’t know what’s going on but…”

He was interrupted when Dazai’s companion came back, a tall, lanky foreign exchange student, who didn’t even spare Chuuya a glance at first.

“Sorry, I took so long, darling.”

Darling!? What sort of a friend was he?

“Oh, Fyodor, this is umm… This is Chuuya,” Dazai ignored the pet name and introduced him.

“Oh, so that’s Chuuya. Well, I must say,” he stepped closer, towering over Chuuya, clearly trying to be intimidating, “not what I imagined.”

“Dazai, who’s this?”

Chuuya knew he didn’t have the right to ask Dazai anything, but he wasn’t sure why. Maybe they weren’t the closest of friends, but he thought they got along.

And now he was here with some guy who was calling him pet names?! What the hell? Was Dazai… But that… that surely didn’t mean…

“He is my…” Dazai started, but before he can finish, Fyodor did it for him.

“Date. I’m his date, Nakahara.” He said, placing his arm around Osamu’s waist, which seemed thinner than usual. “Does it bother you?”

Yeah, it bothered him all right, but not for the reasons he expected. A sudden feeling of anger rose inside of Chuuya, and under Dazai’s absent gaze, it only boiled more, threatening to explode.

He knew this feeling, really surprised to be experiencing it now, but he could ponder over that later.

“Yeah it fucking does. Who the hell are you?”

“Chuuya, don’t…” Dazai started and weaved his way out of Fyodor’s grip. “It’s none of your concern.”

“Is this why you wouldn’t talk to me anymore!?

Chuuya was mad, about to explode, actually. Hopefully, in Fyodor’s face, whose smug smile was not doing any favors for his self-control.

“You thought… what? I say one thing and you just ditch me? I didn’t know you were….” He lowered his voice to make sure Yuan and Shiraze didn’t overhear, who already were looking in their direction, “You never told me you were gay.”

“Why would he?” Fyodor interjected again, getting on Chuuya’s nerves. “You said that you think it’s weird.”

Nakahara wanted to punch him if only to shut him up. He wanted to hear Dazai say it, to explain, what the hell was going on, not some jerk who was getting in the way.

“He can answer for himself! Dazai,” he takes a deep breath, “can we talk? Alone?”

Osamu looked… conflicted. Chuuya could see it plain as day on his oh-so-unreadable face, how he doubted and how a part of him wanted to say yes.

But Fyodor interjected again.

“Actually, we’re leaving. Osamu, let’s find someplace without… these types of people.”

He grabbed Dazai’s hand, who let himself be led towards the exit, leaving Chuuya alone with his thoughts.

He hid behind a game machine to think. Everything happened so quickly…

A date. Dazai was here on a date. What the hell? But he never said… why did he never say anything?

Later at home, he continued to think about everything, trying to reach some sort of a conclusion that would explain Dazai’s odd behavior.

The change in him was too sudden, and Chuuya wasn’t sure what to make of it. He thought back to the time when they first met, how soft Dazai appeared, even if slightly reserved, how shyly he smiled sometimes and blushed when Chuuya did something galant like open the door for him or bring him coffee. How Osamu helped him with homework instead of sleeping because Nakahara was falling behind since the program at this school was too advanced for him. How he brought Chuuya a flower to school one time, placing it behind his ear and said that white suited him….

Oh. No way. But that….

No way!

Chuuya almost jumped up on the bed when a sudden realization hit him. This… made sense, considering how Osamu reacted to such a tiny statement.

He’d have to find him, preferably when Fyodor wasn’t around, and talk to him. As soon as possible.

***

The morning was a drag for Chuuya. He couldn’t sit still, thinking over his suspicions, roaming around the house, and cleaning like a maniac until his older sister Koyou asked him what is going on.

“As much as I adore a clean house, this isn’t normal for you. Did something happen at school?” she asked while opening a bottle of lemonade and placing it in front of him.

“What? Nothing ha…” he paused under her stern gaze, “well, something may have, but.. It’s not… Okay fine, Dazai’s been acting weird and yesterday I saw him on a date! At the arcade, we used to go to! It’s not…”

Chuuya wasn’t sure what he was trying to say. Isn’t fair? He didn’t own the arcade, and he himself went there with other people. It’s not right? He was certain he felt that way, but the subtle tinge of discomfort that he started feeling last night at the thought that Dazai may have stopped being his friend because he offhandedly said something bigoted and it accidentally hit home now was turning into outright self-deprecation and guilt.

“Dazai, that’s…”

“Yes, Mori-san’s kid.”

Koyou seemed to think of something for a second and then asked:

“He isn’t friends with you anymore?”

“No. He just disappeared for like three weeks and then returned, covered in bandages, refusing to say a word to me. I don’t know what happened and he never told me.”

“Did you ask?”

Chuuya suddenly realized that maybe he hadn’t. He thought he had, but he never tried to actually find out what happened. He sort of gave up on their friendship and now he was acting all jealous when he had no right to be.

“Not really.”

“Maybe you should.”

“I tried, he told me to bugger off.”

Koyou raised her eyebrows.

“When?”

“When he first stopped talking to me, and then yesterday, when he was with that… person.”

“Why does it bother you so much?”

Chuuya wished he knew the answer to it, but aside from the fact that he felt physically sick at the thought of Fyodor kissing Osamu, holding his waist or his hand, hugging him, and spending time with him, he couldn’t come up with a reason.

“Because he was with…”

He wanted to say it. He really did. He trusted his sister a lot, she has always been there for him ever since they moved here to get away from their father, who drank a little too much and didn’t mind beating up his son occasionally. Koyou turned eighteen and got parental rights, even though she was only a few years older than Chuuya. He has been forever grateful to her that she didn’t leave him behind. She could have, it would have been easier for her to escape that place. But instead of going to university, she found a job at the school Chuuya now went to, as a secretary, working for Mori-san.

Which presented a problem. He couldn’t out Dazai like this, even if he knew that Koyou wouldn’t say anything, there must have been a reason why Dazai hadn’t told anyone about being gay.

“He was with who?”

“This girl I like,” he forced himself to say, even though for some reason the idea of Dazai being with someone else on a date also did not excite him.

Koyou’s expression changed from a puzzled one to an amused one, and then she burst out laughing.

“This girl you like? Okay, you don’t have to tell me if you’re not ready, but just so you know, it’s fine if you’re…”

Chuuya looked like a deer in the headlights.

“If I’m what?!”

“You know,” she smiled softly, trying not to giggle, “if you’re gay.”

“I AM NOT GAY!! Didn’t I just tell you that there is this girl I like? Weren’t you listening?”

“Bi, then? Or something else… It’s all fine, Chuuya, really, I wouldn’t love you any less, you can tell me. It’s completely fine if you like boys…”

“I DO NOT!”

He didn’t feel rage, just fear, and he couldn’t tell where it was coming from. Koyou, however, saw it plain as day.

“Look,” she placed a palm over his, “I know our dad wasn’t… the best, but he can’t harm you anymore. You don’t have to fear, he’ll never find us. and if he does, it won’t be for years, not until he gets out.”

The emotions were now drowning Chuuya, overwhelming him ever so slightly. Fear, yes, but also something else, something he couldn’t quite recognize. But he didn’t want to push his sister away, not after everything she’s done for him.

“Koyou… It’s not… I’m not… This isn’t about me,” was all that he could mutter.

“Okay. So what is this about? Dazai?”

“I’m worried about him.”

And miss him.

“Look, darling, you won’t do anyone any favors by blowing up like I’m sure you did. Why don’t you talk to him? I’m going over to Mori-san’s house today for dinner with our colleagues, would you like to come with me? Dazai will be there and you two can talk without being interrupted. Plus I’m sure he’d like the company.”

***

Chuuya really was an expert at lying to himself by the time Koyou’s car pulled up to the large house at the end of the lane about putting any thought into his appearance. He certainly hasn’t spent forty minutes styling his hair, and he also didn’t change three outfits before deciding on back jeans, a t-shirt, and his green jacket. And no, he didn’t feel tempted to put eyeliner on. None of those things.

Koyou took the ignition key out and smiled at her brother.

“Ready?”

“Sure,” he lied.

The large house was more like a mansion, unlike anything either of them had seen before. Koyou had visited Mori-san here previously, but Chuuya paused in front of the large staircase, staring at the ceiling.

Was that a fucking chandelier?

“Koyou-san, welcome!” Mori came out to greet them both, “and Chuuya-kun, nice of you to join us. Keeping your sister company, I’d imagine?”

“Actually, I’m…”

“It was my idea, Mori-san. I thought Osamu could use a friend after… the incident. Is he home?”

The incident? Did something happen? Chuuya looked at Koyou, hoping for an explanation, but nothing came. She wasn’t even looking at him.

Mori, however, seemed to know exactly what she was talking about. If Chuuya didn’t know any better, he’d think that he seemed relieved.

“Oh, that’s a wonderful idea. Osamu was already whining all day about how much he didn’t want to attend… Well, all the better.” He turned to Chuuya. “Dazai is upstairs. Do you know where his room is? It’s second to the right, by the bathroom at the end of the hall.”

“I’m sure I’ll find it.”

***

That he did, rather quickly, too. Chuuya reached the end of the corridor and he was suddenly struck with a thought, what the hell was he doing here? Why did he come to see Dazai? Maybe he should have asked Mori-san to call Dazai down, but it’s already too late. He is here, standing in front of Dazai’s door, palms sweating.

He took a deep breath and knocks.

“Go away, dad, I told you, I’m not going.”

“Dazai, it’s me. Chuuya.”

No answer came at first, but instead, a noise, and then the door opened.

“Chuuya, what are you doing here?”

He isn’t sure what to say, mainly because he doesn’t know himself. What is he doing here, really? He doesn’t know the truth so he opts for the next best thing.

“I came to talk to you.”

Instead of resistance, Chuuya is met with that blank stare again, and then Dazai opens the door wider to let him in.

The room is not as big as he imagines it to be, but the blank walls make it seem larger. A bed, a table, and an overfilled bookcase are all that show that the room is lived in. As if this wasn’t a room of a teenager who lived here for years.

Dazai was wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants, with the bandages being his now ever-present accessory. He dropped onto the bed, waving his hand to show Chuuya to sit next to him.

Nakahara does so, somewhat reluctantly, and glances at Dazai who went back to playing on his phone. Not even looking at him, it seems.

“You’ve got a lot of books.”

“Is that what you came to talk to me about? My literature collection? No need.”

Chuuya sighed, instead of feeling angry.

“Are you mad at me?”

“Why would I be mad at chibi?” Dazai scoffed.

“You tell me. You’ve been gone a long time and then you came back, looking like this, you weren’t speaking to me anymore. And yesterday… I’m just trying to find out what’s going on.”

“Are you now? That’s rich, coming from you.”

“Oh my god, can you just tell me what’s wrong so I can at least know what the fuck I did wrong? And put that damn thing down, I’m trying to talk to you.”

“Fine,” Dazai put the phone down, leaving the match and side turned to Chuuya. “What is it that my darling Chuuya wants to know?”

“I already asked.”

“I guess you did. You are here because you’re wondering what made me so upset. Have you considered that I just don’t want to be your friend anymore?”

That felt like a bucket of cold water over his head. But before he could reply, Dazai continued.

“But what’s gotten you so upset, chibi? You’ve got plenty of other friends. Like what’s his name and Yuan.”

“Shiraze.”

“Whatever.”

“And so did you, it seems, but now you’re not talking to anyone at all. What happened?”

Dazai half smiled, but the creases of his eyes remained smooth. Chuuya was sitting close enough to notice.

“I still have one friend.”

That almost made Chuuya see red, but he forced himself to calm down.

“Fyodor? I thought he was your…” it almost pained him to say it, “boyfriend.”

Apparently, his emotion showed it, because Dazai chuckled bitterly.

“Is that so disgusting to you?”

“What? No, that’s not… It’s not that he is a guy, Dazai, he’s just… I don’t know. He isn’t good for you. You know what they say about him.”

He was certain Dazai heard the rumors of why Fyodor moved to Japan in the first place, how much trouble he was in his old school back in Russia.

“Not good for me? Since when are you this caring?”

“I don’t know, Dazai, since we’ve been friends until one day you decided that you didn’t want to be my friend anymore? And yes, not good for you. You had plenty of completely normal friends who are not using you for… whatever he needs.”

“What, like you?”

That stung, but Nakahara chose to bite the bullet for the time being, since at least Dazai was talking to him now.

“I’m among them.”

“Thinking quite highly of ourselves, are we?”

Chuuya was getting tired of this. He was here, actually trying to find out what the fuck happened, but Dazai was still not budging, just sitting, hutched, not even looking at him. This made Chuuya do something he hadn’t expected himself to do.

He moved closer to Dazai and turned his face toward him, taking him off guard.

“Look at me, would you? Osamu… what the hell happened? I promise I won’t tell anyone, lord knows I can keep a fucking secret.” He placed a palm over Dazai’s holding his hand in his, noticing with glee that the latter wasn’t taking it away. He seemed so surprised that he didn’t move at all. “You were gone and I…. I fucking miss you, okay? I don’t know what I did, but can you tell me at least if I can make it right? Please?”

Dazai didn’t react at first, but then his gaze trailed lower and Chuuya felt a thumb caressing his hand. Gently, barely noticeable, but enough to send a pleasant feeling down his spine and… lower. Enough to make his heart flutter.

Fuck. Maybe Koyou was right… No, she couldn’t have been, he isn’t one of those… But how could he think about it now, when Dazai was so close, smiling sadly at him? Chuuya felt himself blush suddenly and almost heard his heartbeat when Osamu moved even closer, stopping a few inches from his lips. He looked into his eyes, not blinking for a moment, and then whispered.

“Don’t move away and I’ll tell you.”

Half a second later, Chuuya felt the warm lips on his own, pressing slightly, not pushing or trying to open his mouth, just touching gently. He felt as if the heat in the room had gone up by twenty degrees, and all the thoughts he had in his mind disappeared instantly. Somewhere in the back of his mind, while he was already drowning in the pleasant feeling of Dazai kissing him (DAZAI KISSING HIM?!!?), Chuuya remembered to do what he was told and didn’t move.

Osamu kissed him softly, when he didn’t meet any resistance, he moved his body a little closer to Chuuya’s, and sucked on his lower lip a little. His one hand moved to cup Chuuya’s face, while another placed the hand it was holding on Dazai’s chest, above his rapidly beating heart.

Looks like he wasn’t the only one nervous.

Chuuya let Dazai lead more out of surprise as well as lack of knowledge of what to do. It was his first kiss, after all, and he never thought it would happen with another boy! But it felt so perfect… Osamu smelled of apples and bandages, and his lips were soft, softer than anything in the world, hearing him whimper slightly when Chuuya finally answered him… It felt like heaven. Absolute bliss.

The kiss, however, ended just as abruptly as it started, but Dazai didn’t move away. He merely pressed his forehead against Chuuya and closed his eyes for a second, smiling in resignation. Nakahara didn’t have time to worry about it, however. He was too busy counting Osamu’s eyelashes and trying to calm down his breathing.

“Now you know what happened,” Dazai whispered. “I’m not mad at chibi. Quite the opposite, actually.” He grazed the back of his hand on Chuuya’s cheekbone, smiling softly, and placed another small kiss on his lip. “But I didn’t lie. I don’t want to be friends anymore.”

“Oh,” was all that Nakahara managed to respond at first. Then, gathering his thoughts, he added, “I see.”

It must have been the wrong thing to say, because Dazai moved away suddenly, although still not breaking eye contact.

“So you still think… it’s weird, I’m assuming.”

He remembered the conversation ever since Fyodor brought it up, and even though his serotonin-flushed brain was trying to catch up desperately, Chuuya suddenly put the pieces together.

“No!” He blurted out.

“No?”

“Why didn’t you tell me that… that you… I… I would have…”

“I’m telling you now.”

That he was, and Chuuya felt like the biggest idiot in the world. He wasn’t sure how he felt about this whole potentially most definitely being gay, but the only thing he knew for a fact right now was that he wanted Dazai to kiss him again. And again. A hundred thousand more times.

“Chuuya,” Dazai smiled, blushing a little, “say something. I just confessed to you, after all. Doesn’t that warrant a response?”

“Yes, right. I’m sorry.”

Dazai lifted an eyebrow, looking suspicious.

“Not for this, this was great. Fantastic actually. Ten out of ten.”

That made Osamu giggle, and wasn’t it the best sound in the whole world? Right after that cute whimper…. oh god. He would never get enough of this, would he? He is actually gay!

“I’m sorry I said that… that thing that one time. That’s what it was, right? I upset you?” Chuuya found strength and confidence in him to brush his hand against Dazai’s face. Osamu trembled at that slightly, making Chuuya want to soothe him more. Vulnerability was a good look on him.

He wanted to see more.

“I’ve upset you, and I… look, my dad…”

He wanted to tell Dazai about why they moved so badly, but the embarrassment at having his own dad beat him up for something so stupid as watching kpop videos and putting on eyeliner like the idols he liked was far too great. He wasn’t ready.

“I know. Mori told me. Well, he didn’t tell me tell me, I read your file.”

“You read what?!”

“Now, there, chibi, don’t be mad,” Dazai chuckled, and kissed his cheek, making Chuuya blush more. If that was even possible. “How could I resist? A beauty like you moving to our little town… I had to find out why.” Then suddenly he seemed solemn and a little bit sad. “I was hoping you’d tell me one day yourself.”

“I just… it’s… I don’t know…”

Chuuya suddenly felt himself at a loss for words. It wasn’t an excuse, not really, and there were too many things he needed to deal with now; but all that moved away again when he felt another touch of the softest lips in the world on his own.

Osamu kissed him again but with more passion this time, first on the corner of his lips, then directly on the mouth, warming Chuuya’s heart and filling his stomach with butterflies. he broke the kiss again (this was really becoming a horrid habit of his) and spoke:

“I thought you’d find me… Disgusting.”

Chuuya squeezed Dazai’s hand he was still holding.

“No, no, Osamu, it’s not… Hang on. Fyodor for sure isn’t your boyfriend, right?”

A chuckle he heard was as bright as the sun.

“No,” Dazai shook his head, smiling, “I’m pretty sure I’m taken. If Chuuya finally says something, that is.”

Suddenly, Nakahara felt so light, as if the weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He wasn’t sure where this feeling came from, but he never wanted it to disappear. He never wanted to make Osamu upset ever again.

“You are taken. No letting you go any time soon.”

[fountainpenguin]

"But I am even more than the two of them; everything they care about is what I am- I am their fury; I am their patience..." (x)

---

New Dog's Life chapter today! ~ 3rd Life series fan-season

Chapter 16 - “Flare (Sniff, Scott)”

❤️ Read on AO3

💛 Start from Chapter 1

💚 More Pixels Imperfect fics

---

While the Dog's Life server plays Session 2, SnifferMyFeet fights the offline Etho for control of his body... Scott and Lizzie recover from the shock of a wild caving adventure, Grian and Bdubs pay the Sushi Boys a visit, and Sniff and Jellie spend some quality time together.

(First 1,200 words under the cut)

---

SnifferMyFeet - Player (Unthreaded)

Quarry: Debatable

Hunter: Frequently himself

Allegiance: Whatever this is

🖤  🖤  🖤

"So I guess that's the story," Sniff says, pressing the last piece of gingerbread roof into place. He melds it tight with a flicker of his crafting ability. None of the houses in the ConVex storage room are decorated with sugarcane, frosting, or chocolate chips, but maybe that comes later. The agent simply wanders to the corner and pulls out more cookie pieces so it can work on the next rustic cabin in line. The fact that it's dark doesn't seem to be a problem. Sniff doesn't mind it either. "I don't know, Weird Grian Agent… The cuddles are nice and all, but let's be real… I don't have a chance with Scar or Etho. I mean, Etho called me 'Joel' when we were snuggled up… I don't know if we're coming back from that. Maybe I'm afraid to express my true feelings because I worry that he'll never see me for who I really am."

The agent beeps a few times, not even looking at him. Sniff rolls his eyes.

"Gee… Thanks for that vote of confidence. You don't have to be so snippy."

This time the agent turns full around, growling low in the back of its transmitters. Sniff watches idly, wondering how hard he'd have to punch the thing to knock it on its back. The agent bleeps once more, then turns away as though it scoffed.

"Yeah, all right… I just don't know where to go from here. I mean, look at me. Right now, I'm a charity case just getting by on the kindness Etho, Cub, and Scar have shown me. Oh, yeah- and Grian, I guess. Beef… I'm not in the system. I don't have my own flat. Maybe Pig will let me share, but he always said he lives in a really cramped studio. I haven't even seen him yet since I came to Between… and surely he would've asked around for me, right? I mean, he's usually come home at least once by now. But if I go looking for Pig, I might get answers to questions about his private life I really don't want to have. Like about whatever's going on between him and TwoMuchGrian. You look like you know Grian. D'you know if Pig and Two are married?"

The agent ignores him, kneeling down. It starts setting up the first wall on a cardboard foundation. Sniff runs his fingers through the back curls of his hair, sighing through his teeth.

"I guess deep down, what I really want is for everything to go back to the way it used to be. I want my husbands back, but I can't just say it to their faces… I mean, if they liked me, wouldn't they already be dating me? Err… Grian and Joel."

No response. Maybe a stifled beep. Only one.

"This is just a lot to take in. I mean, I probably shouldn't be worrying about it right now. I guess I should take my time to get used to Between and let the rest fall into place, but if there's any chance, I don't want to lose them, y'know? So it feels weird breaking up with them if it's not hopeless yet. Plus, I'm bored… I miss Etho and Scar. It used to be that I barely went anywhere without one of them hanging around me. When they were gone, I always knew they'd come back- I built our bases or whatever. But now they might never come back, and I'm probably about to get dumped twice back to back by two people I really like who've maybe kind of sort of been leading me on, and that's really gonna hurt…"

The agent starts work on the second gingerbread wall.

"And I already know that if Pig had to choose between spending time with me or all his cam account friends, I'd never win. I mean, I've never won him over in that regard. I guess he's got Two? I think that was implied. I'm pretty sure he only came home when all his friends were at work and he was off. And I guess I'm grateful, because he could've just left me on that server forever… but, like, he never mentioned unthreading to me as an option? What's up with that?"

And that's a hard pill to swallow (emphasis on the 'aha'). Sniff flops back against the doorframe, draping an arm across his eyes. It helps a little. It almost makes it silly, and then it doesn't sting so badly.

I mean, when Etho told me about unthreading, I jumped right up. Why didn't Pig ever…?

It would've been nice. If when Joel went under for surgery reasons, Etho knocked politely at the door of his and Pig's flat.

I guess if one of my lookalikes ever needs my code again, Etho will be back. Maybe someone should "accidentally" bump Joel or Grian off a cliff.

"Things seem pretty good in Between, and there are all these other servers out here. Pig can go have fun with his friends any time he wants. I don't know if he visited because he liked me? I think it was just duty, boredom, and pity. Like, geez… I'm not as interesting as a thousand worlds to explore. And we're not dating; Pig knew how I felt about my husbands, so he didn't make moves on me, I think. Or he's not interested, but I don't care about that as I like fighting him.

"Although, it is a bit messed up that he never told me they were off the market… Well, I guess I don't know if they're off the market, but you know what I mean. I really miss them, though. Scar's snuggles are the best, but Etho really makes you feel special when he's affectionate. I really liked their hugs. And our old bases. I loved The Relation ship… and the Red Velvet Keep. I actually do miss those pandas… not that I'd ever tell him that; he'd get such a smug look on his face. I miss chasing pillagers with Etho. And the carroting. The way he used to take me apart…"

He trails off, cradling his cheek against his knuckles. He never did carrot with Scar (Too scared; too stressed; reasons unclear), but he did carrot with Etho. A little. Mind your own blummin' business. He sniffs then, pathetically, which is miserable in the sense that it grounds him to his name (like a boot heel twisting him into the dirt).

He exhales. "I know breaking up's the right thing to do… because even if they want to date me, we'd be building that relationship on memories that only I have. Mine are wrong, apparently. I don't know what's up with that; Etho said I probably have roleplay memories without the context that it wasn't real, so my brain invented its own context, though that still leaves me with a dozen questions… My sneaking around the hub hasn't yet led me to some memory erasing business. I'm just not ready to get double dumped. They might not think I'm worth hanging out with anymore…"

They're experienced players. They don't want some oblivious newbie sniffing at their feet.

[Full chapter on AO3 - Link at top]

[rorygilmoreclown]

Kuroo x Desi!reader

Request: Kuroo with a poc/ south Asian exchange student in college. Smart witty mathematics major. (NSFW or SFW) Request by: @thefuckwasmyname

A/n: This is a grammatical abomination in terms of punctuations amongst other things. Also, is “ofcourse” an indian word of sort? Because autocorrect throws a fit and always denies that this word exists. Edit: got the error, dw I fixed it, of course.

Note: Italics are the dialogues. First dialogue is always Kuroo’s.

Word count: 1.1k

New student in the middle of the semester. You couldn’t go ignored at all. Specifically by a certain topper of the class.

Afterall you put his sport scholarship at risk. How could he ignore you.

So when that one common course came along, he saw this as an opportunity.

To flirt with you.

Because in his head, it wasn't the curiosity of seeing pretty little earrings or the little dot between your eyebrows or that pretty smile that attracted him to you; it was the fact that he wanted to win. Or maybe both.

Graciously failed to flirt as soon as he saw what you were working on.

The complex problem that your professor had assigned. THE COMPLEX PROBLEM. One which, even he, could not solve.

No matter how many times he tried to derivate. But you, were nearing the answer. That’s just not acceptable now is it.

So, now he had to distract you, the stakes were higher.

So when he saw the chance, he started the debate with you. To try and prove you wrong.

“Chain rule”

“Product rule”

“Chain rule”

“Product rule”

“Chain rule”

It was in fact the chain rule. And you were in fact right. Kuroo just didn’t want to admit it.

(Read the note before this pls)

“You are wrong you know.”

“No I am not. It is solvable by only chain rule.”

“Okay, let me convince you? I have a free lecture post lunch and before practice. “

“You could try. You will be wrong. “

That’s how your first date went. Him trying to convince him that he is right and you just sitting there trying to show him the solved version.

It became a routine of sort.

Him bringing you questions and then starting debates over them. Which turned into you sharing the questions you couldn’t solve as well

Eventually, just that one lecture was not enough to be debating over problems of all things.

So you took over each other’s lunches as well.

That’s when Kuroo discovered, your cooking

Let’s just say, for his stomach and his heart, there was no going back.

Achar from the side tiffin, getting over quicker than it was before. You reciprocated of course.

He had to buy pocky more often now.

I saw this math meme yesterday

Show

No

Huh

No

Why’d you tell me then?

Give your number, it’s a visually funny one

Or you could just show it to me from your phone

No

Fine, give your phone here

That’s how he took down your number.

A lot of stolen ladoos later….

Texting you things other than just problems started to make sense now.

His favourite being texting you indian food content he finds.

Yours being sending him kitten content in order to influence him into keeping one.

You see, your rental doesn’t allow pets. But his does.

And you had found the most adorable black cat near the campus.

He gives in in a couple of days yes. Afterall, he was the Nekoma captain.

So you both go shopping for the cat.

You see, despite being a cat person, Kuroo didn’t really know a lot about them. So you were there to help the cat out.

Not for anything else obviously.

They are as a matter of fact, allergic to milk

No, they are not. Back home I used to feed the stray cats milk and water

You didn’t know any better. I do.

No

Yes

No

Yes

I’ll google it

Go ahead

Ha!

What

They are only allergic to cow milk. Not buffalo milk.

Okay what?!

Yes, look

Next debate of yours came with the flavour of the cat food

The vet’s always suggest to start out with the chicken or ocean flavours

The salmon one looks better

Don't be stubborn on this one.

I will be.

Fine, I’ll give Kenma a call, he has cats.

Okay you do that.

Much to your dismay, Kenma suggested to start out with the ocean flavour.

Then much to your cashier’s dismay, his calculator broke down.

You could say that the cashier wanted to do the same.

Its 2080 yen

No, it’s 2210 yen

He said it’s on 20% discount didn’t he

No he said 15%

The cashier had said 10. The cashier himself spoke.

So it’s 2340!

Both of you claimed at the same time.

Did you finish the assignment yet?

You rolled your eyes at his text.

No, I’m on it

Okay, send it once you are done

No

Please

Okay, what will I get in return

A date

With who

With me obviously

No

You dare reject my advances

Fine, I’ll send it

Thankyou. Now that’s more like it

Stop being an asshole, doesn’t suit you

It suits me about 70%

We talked about this Kuroo

Yes we did

It was 20%

No

If it couldn’t get any better, you were also good at chemistry, but decided to drop it due to excess course load.

So it didn’t surprise Kuroo when you could correct his assignment and tell him that he had attempted a 10 marker incorrectly.

You had a fight about it for a while, but he did end up agreeing that it was D-erythrose and not D-threose.

(for context these molecules have similar structure, but not exactly the same)

Once this happened. Kuroo was no longer kidding himself.

He finally admitted to himself that he indeed does like you a lot more than he had planned and also the fact that you were better at math

So when he finally decided to confess, it wasn’t surprising to him and you either.

You had noticed the long stares, the teasing behind the red ears of his.

Because you were doing the same of course.

But Kuroo being Kuroo, decided to be extra about it.

He decided that the best way to confess to you would be to spell out your name and the confession as functions

Spent literal days on it

Even asked you to graph a few small things.

Didn’t tell you what of course, but you anyways helped him.

After he showed it to you, you literally got up and left.

Didn’t even say a word.

Left the poor guy hanging.

Well, he just justified it in his brain that he had miscalculated your actions as liking him back.

He decided to save himself the future embarrassments and never to talk to you again.

Gave up on the idea of him liking anyone else ever again

Lost the meaning of life.

Caved into depression.

All this in the span of 4 minutes 33 seconds that you were gone.

You came back with a “I feel the same” text on the graph as functions for his confession.

Boy lit up.

Deflated again

How’d you manage this within 4 minutes?

You just laughed.

[tarastabz]

Angsty core 4 thought because why not?

What if chad and mindy are still grieving for their loss (liv, anika) and they just can't seem to see sam as a trustworthy person? they snap at her a lot and, mindy specifically, has a lot of shady remarks.

Sam doesn't really seem to notice because after what happened in woodsboro they were fine, even when they moved to New york they didn't have a problem with her, so they might be just a little stressed out? Right?

But on the other hand, tara does notice the change.

Whenever sam is around, chad and mindy are not really acting like- well, chad and mindy and that was very suspicious.

At first, tara didn't think any of it, but with the days passing by, this behaviour didn't change.

Actually, it only became worse.

Mindy couldn't really shut her mouth and kept on reminding sam of anika, of leaving tara alone with christina, of her father starting all of this

And chad-

Well, he wasn't like mindy, he didn't have the guts to actually say out loud whatever he thought about sam, but to tara, it was obvious that he wasn't really "okay" with her.

He was basically ignoring her existence, which is just weird asf if you ask tara.

Chad used to like sam more than anybody else when they were kids, and even after she came back, it didn't change, and he even defended her when the two sisters were fighting.

Tara needed so badly to fix all of this, whatever is going on with those 2 idiots needed to stop now.

"So will you two explain to me what the hell is your problem with sam? You've been treating her like shit for the past few weeks and i just don't get it"

Chad and mindy share a look and of course, mindy is the one that speaks up

"Maybe we just figured out that sam is not really someone that we want around"

Tara couldn't believe what she just heard, she was debating whether she should punch mindy or just handle the situation in a more mature way.

She chose the second option.

"Okay, if you feel that way, then you won't have to be around her... but you won't see me either"

"T be reasonable, you have to understand us" this time chad decided to speak up for the both of them.

"be reasonable? She saved our fucking life- multiple times, we would be all buried somewhere in woodsboro if it wasn't for her"

This time, tho, tara did choose the first option and slapped chad. The twins left without uttering a single word.

"What happened? I saw chad and mindy rushing down the hall- weren't they supposed to eat here tonight?"

"Yeah- they're not going to come over anytime soon... for now at least"

Sam had a confused expression, but tara was definitely not going to explain to her sister that her two friends were just not that fond of her. Tara and sam made a promise when they were kids "us against the world," and that's how it will always be.

Some weeks went by before the twins apologised, and tara made sure that they were aware that she was so ready to end this friendship and she won't hesitate to do it again of there's any weird behaviour going on.

And also made them promise to never mention this to sam because she doesn't need to know.

This is tara's way of protecting her.

[depressedhatakekakashi]

Hi, today they were debating that Kakashi was a bad sensei for Sakura (without counting Naruto and Sasuke) and some points they gave were these:

- he sent her to exams where every year there were several deaths...what a "responsible" sensei

- There was time to train her because the other teams were somewhat better prepared, but Don Punctuality arrived several hours late to all the team meetings. Sakura could learn to release genjutsu in less than a day and the same with climbing trees, if he had dedicated some time to her she would have been able to do something

- Not being able to fight Kin Tsuchi (the sound ninja who pulled her hair) is a sign of a bad teacher and in shippuden she had to be saved because she was facing pure Kage level ninja, but in classic Naruto except for Orochimaru she needed help with pure useless ninja. One thing is to be the weakest of the most broken team in the world (in shippuden) and another very different is to be the weakest ninja in the world, outside of the civilians who can't fight there is absolutely no one weaker than little Sakura, at least not in the canon.

- Tsunade was never seen to cast a genjutsu, it's very likely that she didn't know how (and that's why she didn't teach her that) but Kakashi did know and could use genjutsus...what's his excuse?

I hate debating but I wanted to know what you thought about all that since many of them left me blank and wouldn't know what to say

Ok wow these are all such trash explanations XD

- sent her to the exams where every year there were several deaths. There’s no proof of this? There’s a risk of dying, yes, but there’s no proof that people die every year. Also, ultimately the choice was up to Sakura. Kakashi gave all of team seven the choice, so while he entered them if any of them had said they weren’t ready, he would have pulled the whole team. Do they just, ignore that part?

- ‘there was time to train her’ (aka he was always late and missed training time). True, but this is also time the kids could have trained themselves and honed their skills and we only ever see them standing around waiting for Kakashi. They could have also used that time to hone the skills they had, practice what he’d already taught them, etc. They didn’t *shrug*

- not being able to fight kin or the ‘nobodies’ is a sign of weakness? Well gosh, i guess Lee wasn’t prepared either because even though he flattened Sasuke, that team of three sound ninja flattened him. Also, why is anyone acting like it was just sakura vs kin? It was a three vs one scenario because Sasuke and Naruto were unconscious. Lee tried to help but ended up getting flatted as well. They only all got away because team gai and team ten showed up to help, tipping the scales in their favour. No matter how welp kakashi trained sakura, she was in a losing position. Lee had a years worth of training over her and got best

- anyone saying tsunade wouldn’t know how to cast a genjutsu can f*** right off. Girl has high ststes in all area’s, including genjutsu. It’s not her main focus, but you bet your ass she knows how to deal with/use genutsu. Kakashi’s excuse is the story. He only got to teach her the ki release before everything went to shit. He was never given a chance/time to teach after the waves arc

None of these arguments make sense and come from desperate pathetic fan’s who just want to paint Kakashi as a bad sensei instead of paying any attention to the story and understanding that while he is flawed, a lot of the problems that were faced in the chunin exam’s were things he could not have accounted for. Experimently enhanced shinobi (sound nin) a jinchurriki (gaara) and a sannin (orochimaru) were not the standard issues for a genin in the chunin exam’s to face.

Even a team much better preppared like team gai got their asses handed to them.

Also, let’s not pretend choji or Hinata were actually resdy for the exam’s while Sakura wasn’t. Choji made a stupid call and blew his battle (and it was probably a stupid ‘haha’ moment kishi wanted that just fell flat) and Hinata only succeded in a team aspect

Had Hinata or choji been put into the same position as sakura against the sound nin, they would have gotten their asses kicked too

As would kiba and ino tbh, as ino only truly succeded because she had her teams backing. Something Sakura did not have since her teammates were unconscious