#but for now he just lives rent free in my head

[hiding-under-the-willow]

He's so horrible and scary and sad. And so obviously I love him and he's my favorite <3

@silverskye13 Your horrid little knight

[mimiii-3]

saboteur has been on my mind recently and lives rent free.. What will happen IF batsib escapes with darling to spite the batfam for neglecting them? Like get rid of every tracker, remove all traces that they were there, move to a place far away that they won't be able to find both of them? Like a far away country or something..

I like the way you think!

…

Saboteur: Two Most Wanted

Yandere Platonic Batfam x GN Neglected Reader

Notes: typical yandere themes, platonic friend/sibling relationship between darling and batsib

…

What if batsib, reeling from the family confrontation, snuck darling out of the manor…

🦇

Being the least favorite Wayne has its perks. You can snoop around the bat cave, explore the manor grounds, and more without a single glance your way. That includes finding the weak point in the manor’s security system.

You slip through a small pass tucked between a dying tree and a thorn-covered shrub. You duck your head and run across the inembellished yard. You stop just below a barred window, the yellow light peeking between the iron rods.

You reach down and grab a small handful of pebbles to throw at the window. Each pebble ricochets lightly off the window, falling to the damp grass below.

It isn’t until the eighth stone that you see movement behind the window. Darling, a meek little thing, peers down at you from their prison. Their eyes light up when they see your face.

“Good,” you think. Bruce and the others must not have told them what you did. You raise your hand and point to the nearest back door of the manor.

Darling nods in excitement before disappearing from view. You briskly walk to the back door that nears the East side of the manor. You crouch behind a potted plant and wait for Darling.

Darling approaches the door and waves excitedly. You return their smile before holding up a pair of garden shears. Darling nods and readies their hand on the doorknob.

Darling wears a collar with a tracker in it. You’ll have a small window of about thirty seconds to cut the collar off before Tim is alerted. The bat boys kept the collar breakable in case of an emergency.

You breathe out slowly then mouth ‘now’ to Darling. Darling throws open the door and slips a finger between the collar and their neck. The shears easily cut the collar and you toss it back into entryway.

“Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” Darling squeals in delight before hugging you. You shush them quickly and grab their hand. The two of you dart across the yard, back to the opening you found.

You drag Darling through the dense wood behind the manor. Your car sits on the side of the road, nearly invisible sitting in the dark of night. You usher Darling into the passenger seat then make your way to the driver’s.

The car roars to life as you turn the key in the ignition. You press your foot against the gas pedal and fly down the empty road.

Darling turns to you, tears brimming in their youthful eyes. “Why did you save me?” Darling sniffles pathetically, “Tim said that you left me.”

You can’t help but roll your eyes at Tim’s blatant manipulation. You were gone less than a day and he already tried to ruin your friendship with Darling. You gather your thoughts before pacifying Darling, “No, Button. You know I would never leave you. I just…needed to get away for a little. That’s all.”

You watch them visibly perk up after hearing the nickname you gave them. Darling wipes their eyes with the sleeve of their oversized sweater. “Well now that I know you still like me, where do we go from here?” Darling reaches for your hand on the armrest and holds it in theirs.

A mischievous smile makes its way across your face as the car merges onto the highway. You peek at Darling out of the corner of your eye, “What do you think about Metropolis?”

…

Extra Notes: batsib has a friend (or love interest????) in metropolis they think might help🤭

[fictionalsownme]

The fact that Damien canonically carried us to bed because we were too drunk to stand lives rent free in my bisexual head aghshhshshnsls 🥲💞

THEY WERE UNIVERSITY-MATES, YOUR HONOR (ft. my self-insert DA to illustrate the concept 😌💞)

You saying that got me thinking that Damien is so bisexual coded idek how to explain it okay. Obviously the fact that the DA is all of us, aka any gender, aka all genders, makes him queer if you believe he has feelings for us (which like HOW COULD YOU NOT) but it doesn't even matter your gender okay... boy is yearning this hard in the 1920s as the MAYOR?? for his DISTRICT ATTORNEY?? Closeted behavior, I feel. Hehehe ANYWAY--

I'm making a Markiplier Ego Discord!! Idk how interested people are but I thought it'd be fun to try! For now, just let me know if you want to join a taglist for when it's ready (soon!!) and give me name suggestions (please ;;-;;)! 🥰

[mrs-elsie-barnes]

(Thunderbolts) I feel like it would be really funny. There's a x reader where Bucky had a wife, and she just walks in during one of their meetings, holding their kids and like "where the hell were you? All I need a frozen pizza and some diaper wipes."

And alexie teaches one of the kids their first word but it's not mama or dada. It's Gin.

Bucky is pulled away quickly for a mission, leaving you holding the babies...and worrying about your husband.

Warnings: 18+ for language, domestic fluff, Thunderbolts!Bucky before the film, Dad!Bucky, reader likes pineapple on her pizza, I feel this is something I need to warn for. I don't really write kids in fics normally and I've never written Alexi before so…please be kind! Rated F for fluff and K for kids.

A/N: thank you so much for this request! Not going to lie I'm nervous writing anything about Thunderbolts before it's out but Thunderbolts!Bucky does live rent free in my head. It's not exactly as you requested but I hope you still enjoy it anyway!

Padruga - female friend in Russian

Divider by @firefly-graphics & @saradika-graphics

Masterlist | Bucky Barnes

Being married to Bucky Barnes was everything you'd dreamed about since the first time he'd strolled into your boutique and nervously asked if you had any gifts suitable for ex-assassins with limited wardrobes.

After a few hours searching for items he'd bought a new jacket for himself, black leather of course, and a smaller woman's jacket. Your heart had sunk, of course there was a woman already in his life. Tall, handsome, a rakish mop of hair flopping into his piercing blue eyes, she was a lucky lady.

Bucky had looked at you, those blue eyes looking straight into your soul, "it's for my sister, sort of, well, she's not my real sister, but she's like a - it's not for …I don't have a girlfriend."

"Oh, good." And then you kicked yourself for sounding so stupid. Bucky had given you the widest smile and written his number on a scrap of paper.

"Call me." He'd winked.

It was becoming harder to appreciate your luck when you were covered in bath water, probably the only shower you were likely to get unless Grant went to sleep quickly.

Bucky had been called out to an emergency meeting on his way to the store and as much as you loved his dedication and hard work you really, really, needed him to come home with the groceries.

You were running low on literally everything and you knew eventually you'd have to do a full shop, but now just the essentials would do. You couldn't have a repeat of lunch, hunting down some crackers, cheese and cucumbers sticks.

Distracted for a moment, Grant lined his rubber ducks up on the edge of the tub, splashing them in one by one.

"Look Mama!" He said, gleefully, "'dis one is Daddy!" He took the duck, left wing coloured in black, and made it dive into the heap of bubbles surrounding him.

"Well done, Sweetie!" You cooed, turning away quickly to hide a yawn and checking your phone.

Get your ass home or I'm ordering the pizza in instead

From the nice place

Get me some fries?

No

and I'm getting pineapple

Doll cmon now youre being cruel

It wasn't unusual for Bucky to keep his work secret, but he would normally be able to say when he was coming home. Perhaps it was really important.

Grant had just gone to sleep when the doorbell rang and you cringed, setting your pineapple heavy pizza down on the coffee table and pausing your movie.

There was a familiar silhouette in the frosted glass -

"Alexi, is everything okay?" The door swang wide open before you could even reach it. It had definitely been locked, but it was hard to keep any of the team out for long.

"Padruga! I am returning the small one." A very familiar mop of hair popped over Alexi's shoulder, face covered in cookie crumbs. For all that Grant was like you, Natalia was all Bucky, soft curls and sparkling blue eyes.

"Mommy!" She jumped from Alexi, landing heavily in your arms, "we went to Dairy Queen and I had two ice creams and one of those ice creams was vanilla and the other was choca-chol-choco-brown-extreme-blizzard-extreme."

You turned a cold eye on Alexi, "I thought we said park, dinner, home?"

"Ah how can I resist to spoiling the daughter of the Winter Soldier, if she wants extreme blizzard milk drinks I cannot say no." He shrugged, an indulgent smile peaking out of his beared.

"God," you rubbed a hand over your face. "She'll never sleep - Petal, can you go and get your pjs on please, I'll come up and help you do your teeth."

Natalia climbed the stairs quickly, sounding more like a herd of elephants than a four year old.

"Do you know what's going on with Bucky? I expected him home by now."

Alexi looked concerned, but didn't immediately start a tirade about the strength of the Winter Solider, so you felt reassured it couldn't be too serious.

"He is discussing planning with Wilson and his comrades. I have advised against it but he trusts the Captain and so we do too."

"We?"

"Yelena has been very helpful and is talking to the rest of the team. We will have a plan soon."

"So you're heading out for something?"

"Yes. I am sorry."

"Fuck."

"In Russian you can say, yebat, Mommy." Natalia's little voice floated over from the hallway and you cringed. Everytime she came back from spending time with Alexi or Yelena she seemed to have learnt a new Russian word, which wouldn't bother you, except they were almost always curse words.

"I'm all for her being bilingual, but could you maybe teach her how to say her favourite colour or something." You grouched.

"Sorry."

Alexi took a slice of pizza and left the address of the current discussions on a scrap of paper stuck to the fridge before vanishing in to the night again with the promise that you could "call anytime."

It had been two days since Bucky left on his bike to, "have a quick chat with the team, baby, don't worry, I'll swing by the store on the way home." And you were starting to move from slightly annoyed to a see-saw of furious and anxious.

He'd text a few times to let you know they hadn't left yet but the situation was complex, he'd be home very briefly before they left, just to see you and the kids, but other than that he was holed away for the foreseeable.

One week after Bucky left and you were truly stir crazy. There was only so many times you could have the same conversation with the other parents at the park before you lost your mind.

You really didn't care if Timmy or Charlie or whoever had cut their first tooth. All you cared about was what your husband was doing somewhere, anywhere, and when he'd be home safe in your arms.

It was 2am when the call came in, he was home, safe and unharmed, at the abandoned airstrip twenty miles past the town border. Yelena and Alexi were with him, also safe.

Grant was a heavy, floppy, weight in your arms as you buckled him into his car seat. But Natalia was wide awake and excited, clutching her bear to her chest and staring at the street lights in awe.

"I can't wait to see Daddy," she sighed, snuggling the top of the bear's head. You made sure to put his cologne on it, every day, while she was out at kindergarten, the same way you sprayed his pillow. So you'd both have a memory. Grant's blankie was the same and, still asleep, he pressed his chubby cheek into the cotton.

"I can't wait either, Petal, we'll be there soon."

You drove through the night, the darkness closing in around your car, streetlamps dwindling and stars appearing as you made it out of the town and towards the airstrip. There was a single plane looking almost abandoned, its tail at an angle, on the landing strip. But there was the faint glow of artificial light under the door of a metal supply shed beyond it.

You slowed the car, expecting there to be someone at the gate to the airstrip before remembering it had been closed a few years previously and there would be no one to care. It must have been a rough mission, to come back like this rather than through a real airport. It was normally Sam who let you know about his return and you could collect him from the big airport in the city or he'd appear in the night from some taxi or hire car.

You double checked to make sure the doors were locked on the car, the children dozing in the back. Grant was drooling on his blankie and Natalia, despite her assertion that she would "definitely certainly mostly stay awake until Daddy, Mommy" was bumping her head on the side of her car seat every time her eyes closed.

You stopped the car opposite the shed and flashed your lights, ready to drive off if they didn't flash back.

It went dark, then light, dark…light and the door opened. You put the handbrake on and jumped from the car, leaving the door flung open in your haste, and raced towards Bucky.

He dropped his duffle bag and swung you into his arms, latching around your waist and lifting you easily. His lips were chapped and there was the tang of blood when you pulled away from a cut on his upper lip. You cupped his face in your hands and inspected him as best you could in just the headlights.

"You're okay." You sighed, breathing him in, burying your face in his neck and squeezing your legs around his waist.

"I'm alright Doll, don't worry about me. Are you okay?" His voice was rough with sleep, his cheeks chapped with cold and he smelt faintly of fire which was disconcerting. But he was here, safe, holding you close.

"Glad you're back, baby." You smiled, kissing him again. It was amazing, even after all these years, ever though he'd been on a hundred missions. It still gave you butterflies every time he came back, not just that he returned at all, but that he came back to you.

Behind you came the sound of little fists banging on the windows.

"Daddy!" Natalia shouted and Bucky carried you, giggling, back to the car.

With practiced ease he unbuckled both children and held them close.

"My little monsters, have you been good for Mommy?"

"Yes!"

"No!" Grant giggled.

"Sounds about right." Bucky looked over Natalia's head and smiled again, soft and slow.

"I'm glad you're back." You repeated, "but if you ever take two weeks to 'pop to the store' again we're over." You wagged your finger teasingly.

"Don't worry, I got everything we needed." Bucky carried the children back to his duffle, shuffling them around so he could lumber back with everything in his arms. "Look in there."

You unzipped the bag and inside - a pack of wipes, a bottle of laundry soap and two frozen pizzas.

[tailoredshirt]

I just saw your c*ckwarming post and I got to tell you that that fic you wrote about Tarlos c*ckwarming?? About the money issues/extra shifts one?? Lives in my head rent free!! There are days when it pops into my head and I go 😍😍 over it!! Any hc on when they first trued it? Did they manage it the first time sucessfully? Or any random hc s just on this topic?

Thank you for this message 😭 The fic is Inseparable, like gravity.

I have two other fics started for this but none for their first time, although I do have some vague ideas about it!

(Btw idk how to tag nsfw text in posts without making tumblr hide the post from everyone? I’ll tag it ‘tarlos warming’ if anyone wants to filter. Pls lmk if there’s a better way to tag text posts.)

My headcanon is that TK has always wanted guys to stay inside of him after sex, but his partners were either too casual for that, or just pulled out and fell asleep, or declined if he asked. As in, he told a boyfriend ‘you can stay inside after’ but maybe the guy wasn’t a cuddler or was too sensitive, or he thought TK just wanted to go again after a few minutes but the guy was too tired.

And then TK started wanting to just have his boyfriend inside of him (or to hold him in his mouth) while they were doing random things, like cuddling or watching tv. But the only guy he asked about it thought he just wanted to fuck, or maybe didn’t understand why TK would want that. Why was TK asking to just have him inside but expecting him to hold still and not orgasm?? What were they waiting for?? laskdj

So I think the times he brought it up with guys didn’t go well, although not necessarily because every guy he dated was an asshole (although I certainly think some didn’t care about him much).

But obviously Carlos is different. Carlos is observant and wants TK to feel good, during sex and before/after, so he pays attention to subtle cues and listens to what TK says. (I think TK would do the same with Carlos but might be more likely to file the information away for later.)

So when TK says ‘you can stay in if you want’ (casually, like he doesn’t mind either way), Carlos understands that TK is expressing a desire for intimacy and he does it, and loves it too.

And when TK eventually asks if they want to just cuddle this way, maybe Carlos teases him at first, like, “oh, so you don’t want an orgasm? that’s new,” or maybe he’s initially confused about what TK wants, but he doesn’t let TK shrug it off. He’s probably like, “god, you’re gonna be the death of me”, with TK expecting him to have iron will, but he loves to give TK something sweet and simple like that, and yes he grows to love it too.

I think TK doesn’t express his cockwarming desires at first when they start dating because the intimacy scares him. I do think TK knew deep down that Carlos is The One, although I think for a long time that feeling manifested as “it is going to shatter me into a thousand pieces when he eventually realizes how damaged I am, and I’ll never get over him.”

So doing something so intimate with someone he knows he’ll never recover from? Scary af. And the first time they do it, it’s so good, and he feels so safe and loved and connected, that he knows he was right. He’ll never recover if Carlos leaves. (God, this is giving me so many breakup era feels. ANYWAY.)

But they’re married now and they do it all the time!!! Maybe not as often now that they’ve got a kid, but they take advantage of the times they do get. 😊

[chonkykitkatart]

Guys. O'saa Am I right. O'saa ships am I right? I'm losing my Mind. I have 3? 3 main ones or rather, 3 characters i ship him with, Then The ships change depending. I'd like to Think O'saa Can Dance. Ofc. And I'd also like to think that he changes the style of dance depending on his partner. Here:

I JUST LOVE THEM. O'saa and Daan are my Personal Fav but God do I adore O'saa and Abella and O'saa and Henryk hehe

They're just so silly goofy and- I have 4 scenarios that live rent free in my head: O'saa x Daan, O'saa x Abella x Henryk, All 4 of them in a Poly relationship OR! And this one is super cute to me, O'saa x Abella x Henryk and Daan is their Collective Queerplatonic partner that Loves to come along for the ride.

Gods, forgive me. I just feel so strongly about them. I wish there were more Fanfics about them, even Just the individual ships, I know by now not to bank on poly ship content lol. Anyway have a Nice evening, Love you guys 💕

[trombonechurchill]

WIP Wednesday!

I'm still pecking away at my Movie star!Tommy AU and this scene has been living rent free in my head since like day one, so hopefully you guys enjoy it :r

"Trying to get your attention has been exhausting," Evan intones flatly from where he's sprawled on the couch, eyes not leaving the script. "My attention?" Tommy starts before quickly shaking his head, "No wait, no, run that again, I wanna try a different inflection," he says, flapping a frustrated hand. They've been running this scene half the night and Tommy's ready to throw the whole damn thing in the trash with the amount of progress he's been making. Evan's been a good sport considering Tommy had originally lured him over with the promise of a few beers and some Mariokart but Tommy just can't seem to get into the right headspace these days. "Wait, lemme try something," Tommy cuts Evan off before he can start the scene again, grabbing his arm and shamelessly manhandling him into a vague imitation of their blocking. "Tommy, Tommy you know I can't act," Evan starts, laughing as Tommy continues to bully him into position. "Just- Trust me. Keep reading the script, I can't get my head around this scene yet," Tommy says, stepping back and given Evan a quick once over, satisfied, before closing his eyes and breathing. It used to be easy, slipping on that mask, stepping out and away from Tommy and into whoever everyone wanted or needed him to be but it's been harder now. It's like something fractured last year, and now, around Evan, he feels like maybe he doesn't even want to. Like hiding himself the way he always has is getting harder and harder. It scares the shit out of him. "Okay, go." "Trying to get your attention has been kind of exhausting," Buck starts again, glancing up from the script Tommy's sure he's half memorized by now, eyes large, and unsure. "My attention," Tommy starts, taking a step closer. "Yeah, I guess so-" Evan's breathing is slow, his eyes track down to the script and Tommy already knows what the stage directions say, why he's been struggling so hard to nail this scene. But Tommy's not in character when his hand reaches out, fingers brushing Evan's jaw before catching under his chin. He's still Tommy as he tilts Evan's face towards him, still Tommy as he leans in, inhaling the shuddering breath Evan exhales before their lips meet, hot and fervent as Tommy's hand slides to the back of Evan's neck.

No pressure tagging @3min17sec @schweetheart @leashybebes and @fake-mouthstatic if you guys have anything cooking you wanna share 👀 (I know it's not Wednesday for like half of you anymore lol)

[omagpies]

No way! Another person who has spent way too much time on apex! Who's your main? I'm guessing BH but I don't want to assume. How did you feel about the BH/Fuse engagement? Do you have any heirlooms? Sorry, not very many people play apex on here.

Also, do you have any apex art? If not that's totally cool but I would love to see it!

you have activated my trap card!! many drawings ahead

my main is indeed bloodhound. i also whip out fuse, mirage, and to a lesser degree octane, but mostly i'm a one trick bloodhound. they were what got me into the game in the first place back in season 7 when i heard their 'i'm afraid of heights :(' voicelines (a cool hunter nonbinary character voiced by none other than allegra clark? sign me tf up), and even though i am Very Bad At Shooting and don't actually like battle royale-type games apex stayed my brainrot for over two years. the brainrot is definitely over now and these days i play it as a social thing, but that's how i acquired 2k+ hours lmao

also they released a magpiehound recolor called 'frosthaven' that i gleefully snatched up and have been wearing it ever since (ft the magpie holospray and the magpie mural on their latest map. i think they are catering to me specifically)

i am. truly Not Good. i am here just to clown and gossip and make poor life choices. my impulse control is too non existent for someone whose best skill is shooting a perfect outline around the enemy and not a bullet within

i had SO MUCH bloodhound art over on twitter good god. out of the following two drawings, the first one was bought out by allegra to sell as signed prints, and the second one was reposted onto apex's IG account, and in general this was the one time i genuinely had a blast on twitter interacting with all the devs and vas before everything went downhill both in respawn and on twitter lol. also i have to say, s10 and the whole White Raven thing fed me so. so so. SO well. the existential angst was incredible.

i participated in a couple of zines/projects as well! i have many thoughts about their canonical(!) respawn system and the resulting unimportance of death. adds to the existentialism and to bloodhound's religious themes

overall it was a very, very prolific period for me, and there are many pieces i'm still very happy with to this day

(^ the second to last one is a reference to the fusehound confession scene, and the last one is related to one of my fics, wooden bones (forest deity!bh au))

shipping!!! miragehound was my initial and most prominent ship, and i will never forgive respawn for not expanding on their backstory (their mothers worked together COME ON. they might have met as children! COME ON!!!!! i have a whole series exactly about the What Could Have Been)

their backstory with boone also fascinated me for a very long time, and my friends and i spent many a yap session dissing the dude until we stopped and thought, hey, what if he really was Just Some Guy who made mistakes, what if he wasn't evil, and that's what pulled me right back into the brainrot when i was already starting to slowly recover from it. boone now has a very elaborate backstory and lore and i hope to god respawn never puts him in the games the way we did because a) they don't GET him and b) i don't trust the fandom with him lmao. i'm super down to blabber about him though just say the word. he's everything to me, my big, sad, hairy man

we also invented in-game stuff for him. he had abilities and skins etc etc (the top row of skins is his titan pilot backstory + talos era + 'default' in-game skin)

this diptych still lives rent-free in my head, i think i really won with this one

where miragehound and boonehound flourished, mirageboonehound wasn't far behind! i wrote how it came to be and all. also Рorn. so much Рorn. seriously.

also this was the first time i redrew the twelfth night as my otp. the second one was mouthwashing

fusehound was an absolute delight to watch blossom, especially since we know it wasn't planned and just Kind Of Happened. i felt that lmao. characters be like that. i'm a bit sadge they shelved the whole talos plotline in favor of romance but at this point i gave up on expecting good lore from apex, especially after they fired herr frozenfroh. i didn't draw fusehound nearly as much, BUT i do have one fic that was basically a dream i had lol

honorable mention goes to revhound!! this is the ship that went really hard with artists and writers. deeply painful, deeply compelling, absolutely incredible. mindblowing angst and just as mindblowing рorn, together or separately. best shit. the one ship i didn't write for because compared to the fandom's behemoths i never felt like i'd be able to contribute anything meaningful lol, i just got to sit back and enjoy

bonus: as one of my friends eloquently put it, bh and their bhitches :)

i was going to put in more pictures but hit the 30 images limit!!! my twitter is now abandoned but if you scroll down just a little you can see all the stuff that didn't make it into this post.

apex and bloodhound also REALLY, REALLY got me writing. i came into the fandom already relatively warmed up after a 170k fire emblem fic, but i ended up writing 200k+ for miragehound, mirageboonehound, and fusehound combined. i was unstoppable. it was insane. i've linked some already but you can peep them all here. bloodhound's pov was especially fun to write for, purple prose my beloved

also you asked me about heirlooms! i'm a lucky motherfucker who managed to get one set of shards from the 500th box and another from just the random 0.4% chance. so i have bloodhound's and fuse's as they are my most played characters :)

[shineonlux]

bringing my new religion propaganda from twitter.

welcome, kawasaki!Daniel

[naarinn]

Imagine if they studied together. Gotta be for the world peace for sure

[fatedroses]

Two former military elites taking merc jobs perform absolutely hellish battle tactics together.

[diamonddeputy]

I just noticed something about Axis' Genocide fight.

Pay close attention to the SOUL in the menu here.

Beginning of the fight. Pretty normal stuff.

Midway through the fight. It's twitching a little bit and leaving a trail behind it...?

Right before the last attack. You can hardly even tell what it is anymore.

Clover's SOUL speed is increasing in the menu. Because their attacks aren't doing anything, and they're getting impatient.

The devs' attention to detail will NEVER fail to blow me away. This is such a miniscule addition that's SO easy to miss, and yet it adds SO much to their character and the tension of the situation. This game is fucking amazing

[turtleblogatlast]

Love the thought of Leo just casually being well traveled to absurd degrees. Like one day they’re facing their new Big Bad of the year and like, Draxum or whoever says that the key to their fight is located somewhere in, like, Latvia or some place, but no one knows where to start.

Then Leo’s like “oh I know a place” and when asked how the heck he could know of one it smash cuts to Leo falling through the ceiling of said place due to a portal mishap.

Also love the idea of Leo, being as accidentally (and then later, purposefully) well traveled as he is, sometimes taking his family on outings to different places all over, maybe to some new Yokai spots he found along the way.

In these places, Leo 100% lets his bros get scammed by tourist traps.

[aquacomet]

☀️He's a excitable little sea slug with an enjoyment for fun, sweet treats and going where his curiosity leads him. It's Sea slug Sun!

His AU anniversary/birthday is coming up in August so what better way to celebrate than making him his own character sheet!

⭐Extra character notes below!⭐

☀ His design is based on the orange-peel doris (Acanthodoris lutea) sea slug!

☀ He's small (Bigger than the average sea slug, possibly around the size of your palm.)

☀ LOVES sweet food but is not a fan of anything super sour.

☀ Enthusiastic to make new friends!

☀ Can stick to surfaces if he wishes (You may find him in some of the oddest places!)

☀ Can disappear if you take your eyes off him (How does a little slug guy disappear suddenly? Nobody knows!)

☀ Goes on adventures, often curious about anything new he discovers.

☀ He can travel on the surface (Though has to hydrate often!)

☀ Squishy! (He can squash and stretch a little but gotta be careful with the little guy.)

☀ He's looking for someone familiar... but who?

[fluentisonus]

[l-in-the-light]

Trafalgar Law and shreds of closeness part 3: Donquixote Family Edition

What can I say, I got struck with inspiration yet again, the thoughts just do not want to leave me. This time it will get dark. And it will hurt, so feel warned. I will take a closer look at Law's closeness to the Donquixote Family and also do a small case study of affection between Doffy and Cora and their dad as well, to get a fuller context. Main focus will be on physical affection, yet again.

So what do you think, did Law get support and affection from his "second family"? I would say, very little. But let's look at evidence:

We have verbal support from Doflamingo himself when Giolla and Buffalo start to fear to touch Law or to even stay in the same room after they learn he's sick. That's 1:0 for him, I'm sure Law appreciated and remembered it. In retrospection, it would have been better for him if he didn't.

Then we have Giolla and Machvise who handled him like he's an object. Giolla keeps touching Law on the head, probably not caring why he seems displeased with it. She's just reinforcing the trauma, but I think overall she means well, she just doesn't think much about it. Giolla also shows Law the most physical affection and I swear it feels like she's trying to make up for her initial reaction, she's just not going the right way about it, making it worse instead.

Meanwhile we have Doflamingo, who despite defending Law before, never touches him. And I mean, never ever. Doffy remains cold not only with Law though, which we will see in a moment.

And then we have Baby5. She feels sorry for Law and even cried for him when she heard the story of Flevance (not in Law's presence tho), but she herself is bad with affection and care, because she also never received much, it also doesn't help that she is genuinely scared of Law's angry glares. All she can do to show him she cares is to smack and scold him. And of course when she does smack him it's on the head, which only becomes a trauma trigger over and over again. Those two just completely miss each other by a mile.

That's it. No other Donquixote Family's member ever tried to show some care in front of Law. They train him of course, but would you count kicking and punching him as a positive experience? Yeah, I don't think so.

And let's not forget Corazon, who carried Law like a bag of potatoes (and threw him around) for a long time, even after he kidnapped him. The Trip to Hospitals All Around the World kinda made him become better, holding Law close, trying to make him smile, carrying him all the time and at one point he even begs Law: "please give me the chance to do things right, stay strong for 3 more weeks!". Doesn't change the fact the touches he did give Law at the beginning were brutalized forms of affection, and we can't really forget that fact: that's exactly how Law's trauma of being touched on the head even started in the first place.

He already trained for awhile, but he still failed in the confrontation, and I think it was because of the touch. Being pinned down made Law probably freeze and unable to move. But even after being saved by Doflamingo, Law doesn't even try to seek support in him, unlike Baby5. Here we can see Doflamingo is alright if someone seeks comfort in him, but he will not give it by himself. That makes Doflamingo-Law combo the worst possible match up, a person who will never give it first and a person who will never ask for it, no wonder things were always cold between them.

Thanks to the fight against Smoker in Punk Hazard we learn that Law managed to overcome his trauma of being pinned down to a significant degree, because he manages to escape on his own. This scene gets an extra focus in the manga (it takes like 5 different frames!) which further convinces me it's that siginifcant. Law probably trained himself not to get overwhelmed like that ever again. Still, I can't help but notice soon after this happened Law starts to have troubles breathing, which means it still didn't leave him unaffected. He pushes to finish the fight faster afterwards as well.

One of his trauma triggers is feeling helpless and being pinned down definitely counts for that. I don't think this started with Vergo, I would say it was already a thing after Flevance, when he had to discover more and more dead bodies of people dearest to him, unable to do anything about it.

Let's look at his symptoms thanks to which we can recognize he's going through a triggering situation. Visible shivering, heavy panting (to the point of weezing which makes me think it can even go as far as bordering on hyperventilation or the opposite - apnea). And then in the last image he just goes stiff which I interpret as him completely freezing up. Damn, that's actually a lot. It's very similar to Robin's trauma responses in Water 7.

You can also notice that Law clenches his fists and it seems to be a sign that he's struggling or forcing himself to be strong. He still does it *a lot* when he's an adult. I think it might have honestly became a habit. He does that just before a battle, in most stressful situations when he knows he can't show his emotions (or just doesn't want to), and well, if we go by the anime version, also when he leaves Wano with his own crew. Basically any time he makes a firm resolve or a hard decision, he also does that. I swear sometimes it feels like he struggles for half of the Dressrosa and Punk Hazard, which you know what, might be way too accurate.

Also bonus wholesome points for Luffy caring more to support Law and Muucy than caring for falling into water himself. I'm not sure how much that helped Law when he was dealing with a triggering situation, especially that unfortunate contact with the top of his head. I guess it's still better than similar situation but with Law completely alone.

This puts this scene into a completely new perspective, right? He's shivering here and definitely froze up, even his speech bubble looks distressed. He's not getting angry here, his trauma trigger kicked in. I did check if he ever shivers or freezes up when he tries to, for example, stop himself from feeling angry, but no, we never see that happen. I'm sorry for ruining the comedy :( tho to make it better, he's also shocked, because just moments before Strawhats feared him, and now they already don't and even laugh at him. Damn, I'm now so torn about this scene, I mean, Strawhats couldn't have known!

Now a promised closer look at Donquixote family's approach to closeness and touch. When they were still Celestial Dragons, they barely touched each other. No small touches on the back, hand holding or anything else you usually share with kids. The closeness starts only after they're all starting to be persecuted. First time we see Doffy holding his mom's hand is when they run away from their burning house. First time we are shown Homing hugging his kids is when village people are beating them up and he is just trying to cover them with his own body, so he takes the beating instead of his kids.

The last memory Rosinante has of his father is the hug. And the first memory he has of Sengoku is also a sort of half-hug. Might be why he got so attached to him.

Little Doflamingo and Rosinante are always together, but they never touch in any way. It's clearly Doffy who takes care of his younger brother, probably also telling him to toughen up.

Weird mocking touch on the head from Trebol. And like always, no one ever touches Doflamingo, not even his own officers, and that's true ever since Doffy was a child.

He even tells Trebol he's too close. Doffy doesn't want touches anymore, because it seems in his mind he understands them as someone protecting him, and he doesn't need protection. Ever since he killed Homing, Doffy took the role of being a head of the family and protecting Rosinante, so no more hugs or hand holding for him. In other words, Doflamingo associates physical affection with protection and incoming abuse. And whenever he touches someone it's exactly for that reason: to hurt them.

An interesting parallel because this happens in exactly same chapter: Law is trying to move away because Luffy's "too close". He even lets him take the transponder away and just stands there and waits. And you might wonder: what for? Is he hoping Luffy will give it back by himself?

No, it just took some extra time for Law to brace himself to touch Luffy and shove him to the side. Even though both Doffy's and Law's first instinct here is to move away, Law is struggling but actually tries to overcome it, contrary to Doffy, who seems content in his "no touching" comfort zone.

Let's take a look at Dressrosa now. Doffy is carrying Law by his clothes, Law is unconscious, but he will not touch him directly anyway. Cora-san used to do it as well at first to Law.

But then, you might ask, they fought so much in Dressrosa, surely some kind of touch had to happen as a result? I mean, most of them were indirect touches with Doffy's strings, kicking Law or stopping him by grabbing his sword. But you are right, exactly two touches do happen. You're not gonna like it.

This is literally the first time Doflamingo ever touched Law. To stop his attack he forcefully grabbed his hand. Law is shivering, this actually triggers him, and there's just no way Doflamingo doesn't know that, he can feel it.

And then he makes the full use of the situation. Doflamingo holds Law up in the air, but we can see by the onomatopeia that he's literally holding him up by his hand alone and Law is just freely dangling there, Doffy's not using any strings to immobilize him, not even armament haki. He doesn't even need to. Finally he gave Law the touch he must have been craving when he was a child from him, but it's not a caring one, and what's the next thing Doflamingo does to that hand he just touched? He cuts it off, ripping open the psychological wounds, making them deeper, perhaps hoping Law will never recover from them. Because that's the easiest way to control him later if he wishes to do so, to make him pliant, defenseless and unable to fight back and terrified. But also to punish him for the "rebellion" against him... but also to punish Law for his need and fear of touch. This is a lesson: never want affection, closeness or touch, you're never getting any. Unless it's this: abuse. And if you don't think this is terrible enough, let me remind you: this is their first touch *ever*, Law probably waited for it when he was a kid.

And Law is just hanging there, not even trying to move, and it lasts for like three or four pages long, and I remember when I reread this a couple of times, I was a bit puzzled. Why isn't Law struggling to release himself? Why is he just letting this happen? Especially when it's becoming very clear what Doflamingo is gonna do next. So I have my answer: Law froze up, it's his body shutting off on it's own and all he can do is to just be there and wait for it to be over. It's painful, because we know Law always struggles, always fights back, and he tries here, with words, but he can't do anything else and he just watches it happen.

And this is the second time Doflamingo touches him. It's after the Gamma Knife attack, Doffy knows what he's doing here, he chooses to make contact with Law's head/face (he must have noticed Law's discomfort to it before when Giolla often did it to Law as a kid, and now he utilized this knowledge). He tries to make Law freeze up so he can't finish his move and who knows, maybe that was the final factor of why Law failed to kill off Doflamingo.

To wrap things up, I will share the interesting parallel that I think can be drawn between two rather unexpected characters: Law and Boa.

Both Law and Boa are most comfortable around Bepo (and the snake in Boa's case). Both are victims of brutalized touch and lack of loving and caring one. But while Law fearfully accepts what's given to him, Boa rejects it (even symbolically by kicking fluffy animals away or refusing any show of affection like gifts). Both are touch starved, but Boa will never even try to touch Luffy, and the only time Luffy touched her was in that stealth mission in Impel Down (they didn't have the choice) and hugging her after she gave him the key to Ace's cuffs. Boa doesn't return the gesture, she is very flustered and falls to the ground afterwards, which reminds me a little of her later scene with Rayleigh. Not even Boa's own sisters are shown to share any sort of physical affection with her, Boa shows cold and manipulative attitude to almost everyone besides them. The only other person Boa ever touched was Rayleigh (she's on the ground here again) after he helped them fight off Blackbeard's assault on Amazon Lily and it might be a traumatic response: Blackbeard tried to strangle her after all. Boa's love is passionate and platonic, she shows her affection and caring with indirect gestures (food preparation, offering support and help etc.), probably because that's what she remembers others tried doing for her before. She can't even deal with intimacy face to face and Law also tends to act cold to very open displays of affection and emotions.

Big thanks to @tae-rambles for mentioning the scene with Boa that completely slipped my mind <3 added it in the edit!