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salty-autistic-writer · 5 months ago

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Part Of The Family Summary: Tommy is recovering from a concussion. Buck creates a schedule to ensure he won't be alone. Tommy learns what it means to be part of the family. ~

Concussions are a buzzkill.

It’s not Tommy’s first one. But it’s definitely the worst he’s ever had.

They were fighting a fierce structure fire and he didn't see the danger coming until it was too late. Tommy vaguely remembers someone calling out his name in warning, before something connected with the back of his head in a very sudden and very painful way. Apparently, the culprit was a heavy piece of debris. Heavy enough that his helmet didn't make much of a difference. After the impact, Tommy found himself on the ground, stars appearing in front of his eyes. Someone helped him out of the building and almost immediately, a headache crept in and stayed. It’s still there now. A constant pulsing ache.

Tommy doesn’t even remember how he got to the hospital.

But now he’s in a bed, with his head stitched and bandaged, and a doctor is there to tell him something about several tests they ran. Fortunately, they didn’t find any swelling or bleeding in his brain.

The doctor says more, but Tommy can’t focus anymore. Everything is too bright and too loud. Everything hurts. His head is heavy and his floaty thoughts seem to hit an invisible wall whenever he tries to form them into something coherent. Feels like his mind is filled with fog. Tommy just wants to close his eyes and go to sleep. But then, Evan appears in the room and Tommy’s mood brightens immediately. Evan is like the sun, pushing through the clouds inside his mind.

“Ev,” he croaks, raising his hands and reaching for his boyfriend.

Evan looks worried. Why does he look worried? It makes Tommy feel concerned too. Oh. Right. Tommy is injured and in a hospital bed. That’s why.

“Hit my head,” Tommy tells Evan, pointing up to that aching pulsing thing that must be said head.

“I can see that,” Evan says softly, hugging him and exhaling shakily. “I’m so glad to see you awake. You will be alright.”

Tommy frowns. Has he not been awake at some point? He really can't remember. “Can we go home now?” He asks hopefully.

He doesn’t want to stay at the hospital. Not again.

Evan studies him, his brows furrowing. “I don’t know. You don’t look … well. And you can barely keep yourself upright. Maybe you should stay here at least for overnight …”

Tommy starts to shake his head, then immediately stops because it hurts too much. “No. Please.”

Evan chews on his lip. “Alright. Let me talk to the doctor.”

The doctor doesn’t approve. He says Tommy should be under observation for at least 24 hours. But Evan tells him he can do that at home. The doctor sighs and asks Tommy if he can get out of bed without any help.

Tommy can. At least he thinks he can. He can see that they are both watching him. It feels like a test, so he does his best to get himself out of the bed. Everything is fine until he tries to stand. A wave of dizziness and nausea hit him. The world sways. Feels like flying a helicopter through a hurricane. Tommy grimaces and reaches out for something to hold on to. He finds Evan’s shoulder, which is solid enough. There. He's standing. He can do it.

The doctor raises a doubtful brow and clears his throat. “I still wouldn’t recommend you to go home, but in the end, I can’t force you to stay. Just let me explain some important things you should think of concerning this concussion and the next few days of your recovery.”

It’s Evan, who listens to the doctor. Tommy just tries to not fall. Evan stands there, with his hands on his hips, nodding along with a very serious expression on his face, clearly memorizing everything the doctor is telling him.

Tommy looks at his boyfriend, his chest glowing with happiness. God. Evan looks so good. Oh. Did Tommy say that out loud? Because Evan and the doctor fall silent for a moment and throw him a glance, before continuing talking. Huh.

“He definitely shouldn’t be alone tonight,” the doctor finishes with a sigh that seems to say: I'm done with stubborn firefighters for the day.

“He won’t be,” Evan says firmly. “In fact, he won’t be alone at all. Not until he’s doing better.”

Tommy frowns. What is that supposed to mean? He immediately forgets about the words again though because it’s hard enough to follow Evan out of the hospital. He holds on to Evan’s arm with one hand, squinting his eyes and keeping his head down, since the lights only seem to turn brighter around him.

The car ride is a nightmare too. He has to close his eyes for the entirety of it because every time he sees a glimpse of the moving world, he’s hit by a wave of violent nausea. A groan escapes his lips and Evan puts his free hand on one of Tommy’s, holding it. An anchor in this stormy ocean that throws him around. Tommy holds on to it as firmly as he can.

It’s a relief when they finally arrive home. Evan has to support him the few steps to and into the house.

“Bed,” Evan says sternly as soon as the door closes behind them. “Right now.”

Tommy doesn’t protest. He’s glad when he can finally lie down. When the world stops moving and he doesn’t feel like he’s the captain of a ship that has to navigate through a storm. He closes his eyes and grimaces when dizziness is replaced by pain. It starts in the back of his head and stretches until it’s everywhere.

“Hurts,” he mutters.

Evan’s fingers run through his hair. Slow and gentle. “The doctor said you can have some Tylenol. And I’m going to make you a cold compress, alright?”

Tommy just hums, sinking into the comfort of being touched. It feels nice not to be alone. The last time he returned from hospital he was alone. Soon enough he’s had a few pills and has a cold towel on his forehead. The pain slowly fades into a numb pulsing. Tommy feels pleasantly floaty, especially with Evan’s warm body beside him. Eventually, he falls asleep.

The next morning, Tommy feels a little better. Still foggy and dizzy, but at least he can think clearly and string words together again. His symptoms didn’t get worse which means he doesn’t have to go to the hospital again. He’s glad. He hates the hospital with its flickering neon lights, squeaking plastic shoes, horrible food and never-ending surprise visits by nurses or doctors.

This situation has its ups and downs. The upside: He can stay at home, where he has his own bed, his own food, his privacy and, most importantly, his Evan.

The downside: He has to stay home all the time and do nothing that might risk him falling and injuring himself further or tearing any stitches.

For at least 48 hours, he will be bound to his bed. And he will be trapped in his house for almost a week. No exercise. Not even a walk. Also, he shouldn't be doing anything that requires concentration, like video games, watching TV, reading, texting or using a computer if it worsens his symptoms.

Evan stays with him for the first 24 hours, making sure he’s not getting any worse or exerting himself too much. But after that, he has to go to work.

And suddenly, Tommy is alone. He tries to look at a few videos on his phone but that makes him nauseous after a while. Watching TV is making him nauseous as well. He ends up back in his bed, on his back, staring up at the ceiling while his head is pulsing and pain and hating everything. How is he supposed to spend almost a whole week like this?!

A knock at the door - a very enthusiastic one - interrupts his depressive thoughts. Tommy frowns. He isn’t expecting anyone. And he doesn’t look very presentable either. Maybe it’s just the postman. He gets up with a grimace, dizziness making him sway and he has to catch his balance before he can walk slowly - very slowly - to the door and open it. He blinks in surprise. It’s Maddie. With Jee-Yun. “Hey,” Maddie says, smiling at him. “I brought cake. I heard it’s a good sweet cheer up in case of head injuries.” “Oh. Thank you,” Tommy says, accepting the box she hands him.

Jee is holding on to her mother’s hand, with her free hand she points at Tommy’s head and says, “Ouchie”, her eyes widening. “Yeah. Big ouchie,” Tommy says, touching the bandage wrapped around his head. "But I will be fine."

“How are you feeling?” Maddie asks while they’re slowly walking into the living room. Jee stays close to Maddie’s leg, her fingers brushing against her mother’s pants as she looks around a bit shyly. Tommy shrugs. “Dizzy and nauseous, but the pain is a little better today. I have a feeling that this piece of debris really wanted me to remember it.”

“Well, we are here to distract you a little from it,” Maddie says with a chuckle. They sit on the couch and Maddie pulls several things out of her bag. A colouring pad and pencils. A plush elephant. And a few small bottles of nail polish. Jee climbs on the couch and looks at all the things Maddie has brought as if she’s trying to make a very hard choice. Finally, she points at the nail polish. Then at Tommy, her expression serious. Maddie chuckles. “Jee painted my and Howie’s nails so often, I think she needs a new model.”

“And I even get to choose the colour,” Tommy says when Jee presents him with three different options. He chooses blue.

It’s relaxing. He just has to sit there and hold still. Jee is very focused. The tip of her tongue is visible between her lips as she paints his short nails with the tiny brush. While she’s working, Maddie and Tommy talk. She tells him about what's going on at the dispatch centre and asks him about what he's doing at Harbor Station which leads to him telling her about some of the more interesting calls. She also asks him if he's always wanted to be a pilot and he ends up telling her a bit about his past. She listens attentively.

When Jee-Yun is finished with Tommy's nails, she shows him that he has to shake out his hands to let the paint dry and he does it with her, chuckling.

“Should I paint your nails now?” Tommy asks Jee. She beams at him and laughs, holding out her small hands.

It’s a bit difficult. From time to time, Tommy is still hit by a wave of dizziness and focusing sometimes leads to double vision. But Jee holds perfectly still, even when he has to take a break.

“Et voila,” Tommy says when he’s done. Jee inspects her now purple nails and gives him a bright, tooth-missing grin.

Maddie smiles. “Very pretty.”

They all eat a piece of the cake Maddie brought. Soon, Jee is yawning and rubbing at her eyes. “Guess I will take her home now for her nap,” Maddie says. “I hope you will feel even better tomorrow.”

“Thanks for coming by and thanks for distracting me. Now I have my pretty nails to look at when I don't feel so good,” Tommy says, smiling at Jee-Yun, who waves him bye, not so shy anymore, and follows her mother out.

Soon after Maddie and Jee leave, there is a knock at the door again. Tommy raises his brows. He opens. This time, it’s Karen with Denny and Mara. “Hi,” she beams at him, raising two plastic bags. “I brought dinner. Buck said you like Chinese?” “I love Chinese,” Tommy says with a smile, letting them inside.

Hen and Evan join them later, marvelling at Tommy’s nails. They’re all playing a game of Monopoly later and everyone is laughing at Tommy because he constantly manages to land in prison while Denny somehow builds enough houses to make them all go bankrupt.

Later, Tommy is a little exhausted but he also realizes he barely noticed his head for a long time. He remembers Evan’s comment on how he won’t be alone at all, and he thinks he understands now. Evan must have made a schedule, determining who is going to visit Tommy when.

And it’s just the beginning.

Every time Tommy starts to feel antsy over the next few days, there’s a knock at the door and every time he opens it, it’s a member of the 118 family. He always has someone sitting on his couch.

Ravi brings cookies and wants to know a lot of things about flying.

He asks so many questions that Tommy is wondering if he is considering a career as a pilot. Or maybe he’s just as fascinated as most people are. For a lot of people, flying is a mystery. To them, it seems like magic, when it’s actually physics.

How can a heavy plane or helicopter stay in the sky? How does it get into the air at all? How does it move forward? “That’s so cool, man,” Ravi says after a while, taking a bite from his cookie. “For the first time ever, I really understand why a plane manages to fly.” “Are you thinking about flying a helicopter or plane in the future?” Tommy asks, intrigued. Ravi looks taken aback for a moment, then clears his throat and looks a little … embarrassed. “To be honest, I have a fear of flying.” “Oh.” Tommy didn’t expect that. But it’s not unusual. Many people have a fear of flying. He doesn’t know what it feels like, but people he knew told him how uncomfortable they feel while being on a plane. Tommy guesses it’s the same thing as with sharks. Media makes flying look like something risky and highly dangerous because every time something does happen, it’s all over the news and people who have no idea about the science behind flying share their wrong opinions.

Ravi grimaces and scratches the back of his head. “Yeah. I kind of inhabited it from my family. Constantly had to listen about how dangerous flying is in general and that I shouldn’t ever enter a plane. Theoretically, I know it’s not dangerous. But my mind is not that convinced. And now I know you, and you’re flying all the time and I thought it might be a good idea to learn a little more about it from someone who is a professional, you know?” Tommy clears his throat, feeling a little embarrassed now. “I don’t know if I would call myself a professional …” Ravi raises a brow. “Please. You flew a helicopter into a hurricane and landed it on a capsized ship. Buck couldn't shut up about it for an entire week. After a while, I almost felt like I was there."

Tommy chuckles. “Ok. You have a point. Well, if you want to, I can always take you on a flight once I recover from this concussion, to show you how everything works and why it’s not dangerous. That might help with your fear. Someone once told me we have to do the things that scare us to show our mind that nothing happens.”

“That’s awesome, thank you,” Ravi says with a bright smile. “I’m absolutely going to take you up on that offer!”

When Ravi leaves, Bobby and Athena arrive with lasagna. It's so delicious Tommy kind of never wants to eat anything else ever again. While they're eating, Bobby remembers a few crazy calls they had back when Tommy was still part of the 118 and they all laugh about them. Especially about Maurice. "Can't believe the first thing I did was handing you a traumatized rooster which tried to kill us all," Bobby says, reaching for Athena's hand and squeezing it. She smiles and they look at each other so fondly ... Tommy's heart warms for them and he's so glad Howie called him back then. He still remembers how worried he was when he heard that Bobby and Athena were missing. And he remembers the moment when he saw them hugging. When he was so relieved that he had flown into that hurricane and that they had found them. And of course, he remembers Evan's hand suddenly touching his shoulder, remembers Evan's smile and his bright eyes. The moment that made his breath hitch and his heart jump.

It's a little crazy, Tommy thinks, how much impact Bobby had on his life. Bobby was the one suggesting the transfer to Harbor because he believed Tommy needed a fresh start. (And he was right about that.) It was Bobby who gave Evan a second chance at the 118. And it was Bobby - plus Athena - who needed a rescue and made Tommy meet the love of his life that way. Sometimes, the world seems incredibly small and it feels like we're all connected by invisible strings, Tommy muses, taking another bite of the amazing lasagna. ~ “No,” Christopher says patiently. “You have to press this button to jump. Not that one.”

Tommy feels old. So old. He keeps on dying. And every time he does, Chris gives him advice on how he can avoid dying the next time. But Tommy keeps messing it up. The video game is too fast for him. And the little figure on the screen never really does what he wants it to do. “I’m really bad at this,” Tommy sighs, looking at the screen where another “you died” appears. In big red letters. Great.

“You can’t be the best at everything,” Chris says seriously.

“True,” Tommy says, putting the controller down. “Come on. It’s your turn. Let me watch the professional.”

Chris chuckles. “Okay.”

He easily jumps over all the obstacles and eliminates all the threats his little figure encounters while running through a pixeled world in search of … Tommy doesn’t really understand what the goal of this game is. But well. He leans back on the couch and watches. His head got a lot better. The screen’s light doesn’t give him a headache anymore and the dizziness as well as the nausea are almost gone.

In the evening, Eddie and Evan arrive with food and Eddie thanks Tommy for watching Chris. “Are you sure he didn’t watch me?” Tommy asks with a glance at Evan, who sits on the couch with Chris, trying the video game too and being way better at it than Tommy. Eddie just laughs and hands him a hamburger. ~

Anxiety and insecurity hit Tommy the next day when he’s watching a movie with Howie and - because he’s taking meds - not having a beer like usual, but instead tea, which Howie made.

The week passed so fast because he’s never really been alone. And it’s been so nice to have all of them there. Still. There’s a part of him that isn’t entirely sure about all of this. A part of him tries to convince him that they are only here out of pity. Or because Evan told them to come. Not because they really care about him.

“Y’all don’t have to do that, you know?” He says, glancing at Howie. “Being here. It’s not like I can’t take care of myself.”

Howie takes a sip of his tea. “Tommy, we all want to be here. Trust me. Buck insisted on making a schedule, because, well you know what he’s like when he gets a chance to go full clipboard mode, but we all would be here anyway because you’re family. And we take care of family.”

Howie’s words make warmth spread in Tommy’s chest. “Alright,” he says, his throat a little tight now. “Thank you.”

“Not for that, man. But please. Be a little more careful with that head of yours in the future. Because I can only stand Evan 'my boyfriend is injured and we’re all going to take care he won’t do even more damage to himself' Buckley one time in a year," Howie says with a feigned pitiful expression on his face.

That makes Tommy laugh.

Tommy wakes up in fractions, blinking into the sunlight. Evan’s face is hovering above him, a smile spreading on it, as he looks down on Tommy, with his head tilted to the side and his hair still tousled. “Hey.” “Hey,” Tommy breathes, smiling sleepily. It’s the weekend and this is his favourite way of waking up.

“How is that pretty head of yours today?” Evan asks, running his fingers through Tommy’s hair. The bandage is gone now. “Better,” Tommy says honestly. “Barely feeling it anymore.”

“I'm glad to hear that,” Evan says, kissing Tommy’s forehead.

“Whose turn is it today by the way?” Tommy asks teasingly. Evan chuckles. “Only me today.”

“Good,” Tommy says, wrapping his arms around Evan’s body with a content sigh, enjoying the warmth and the morning softness. “As nice as it’s been to have everyone around, I’m happy when I get to have you all for myself."

Evan smiles. “You know, they all were worried and wanted to be there for you while you were recovering, but I also think they loved the chance to get to know you a little better.”

Tommy thinks back to what Howie said and for the first time, he can allow himself to accept that he’s a part of this family now.

#bucktommy #tevan #kinley #bucktommy fanfic #evan buck buckely #tommy kinard

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baileys-writing-desk · 10 months ago

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The Afternoon Sun

Four was gravely injured in a monster attack, and it took everything Hyrule had to save him. Two days on, the smithy finally learns of the strange place he’s ended up in: Faron’s basin.

(This is concurrent with The Morning Sun, but it can be read on its own)

AO3

In Four’s brief moments of wakefulness, a strange blue creature towers over him…and there’s water all around…he’s in water. Why?

“Don’t worry, Link. You’re safe…”

He has no choice anyway, the smithy remembers as he floats in and out. He can’t leave…he doesn’t know what’s going on. Briefly he is met with the blurry face of the veteran standing in front of him, but even that doesn’t last long as his eyes slowly slip closed again.

“Four…”

“No- don’t fall asleep…yet…”

The next time he stirs, his body is still overcome with weakness, but he has gained just enough awareness to truly think, of what in Hylia’s name could have happened for him to end up here. He whines as his mind draws a blank.

Then a voice sounds from above.

“Ah! Back again, little Link. You with me, boy?”

Four slowly peels his eyes open. The familiar-looking giant blue creature from earlier- or at least a blurry distortion of it- peers down at him from above. He’s still partially submerged in water, with dark walls curving up over him in a circular shape.

Where…exactly am I?

What is that thing??

He grunts, trying and failing to blink the blurriness out of his vision. His body is still incredibly drained…although he must have been asleep for quite a while. The water drips and ripples slightly around him, as the creature extends her arm forward and dips what looks to be two fingers in. Testing the waters, he presumes. But why? Why is he in water?

Must not be regular water.

“Still warm enough…” it mutters, raising its arm back up. “Boy, please speak if you can hear me, will you? It does no good talking to myself.”

…But what kind of water is this?

Four hesitates. The creature wants him to speak; he must not leave it waiting.

“Wh- who are you…?” he croaks, voice incredibly dry. He tries to clear his throat but simply coughs instead. Damn…All this water around yet his mouth still feels like a desert.

“Ah, I suppose I have yet to introduce myself. Now that you seem coherent enough, I shall.” The creature’s blurry face begins to focus a little, showing dark eyes and purplish lips against the pale blue. Two long string-like antennae wave around the sides of her head. “I am Lady Faron, the Water Dragon and warden of the woods. You, young boy, are in my hall within the lake. Now don’t worry, you’re safe here with me.”

Faron…He’s heard that name before. But where…?

The smithy frowns, raising a hand out of the water to touch his forehead. “…And why am I-“

“In my basin, you ask?” Faron chuckles. “That one’s easy. It’s to heal you. In case you don’t remember, you were gravely injured.”

…Oh.

A faint memory drifts in, of his inability to parry a monster’s sharp blade. I was stabbed.

“I…I do.” Four groans, eyebrow furrowing as he starts to make out more of Faron’s features. “You…saved me?”

“Now, boy, don’t give me all the credit here. Another of your companions used all his magic to close your wounds. That is what saved you. But you were still far too weak….” She pauses. “The water you are lying in is my sacred water, which acts as a healing bath.”

Another of your companions…

Hyrule. It had to be Hyrule.

He drops his hand back into the water, noticing the tingling effects of the dragon’s magical substance.

“So tell me, little Link…how do you feel?”

“I’m…” The questions swim through his head. Where’s Rulie? Why does Faron sound so familiar? “…I’ve been better, just so tired…”

Is Rulie okay?

“Are you in any pain?”

Slowly and gently, he shakes his head, being mindful of the dull ache. “Where’s…Hyrule?”

“Oh, him? He’s resting with the Thunder Dragon in his domain. Don’t worry, he’s in very good hands. Lanayru’s grown quite attached to that boy.”

…Lanayru?

This must be Sky’s era, he realizes.

And something comes to mind about three guardian dragons…Lanayru, Eldin?…and Faron. Of course. Water Dragon. He blames his muddled brain for not putting the pieces together earlier.

“Is…anyone else here?” he manages. “…Legend?” Yes. The vet was here, right?

“I’m sorry, I don’t follow.” Faron frowns, glancing around the rest of the hall which Four cannot see from the basin. “It’s only you and me. Well…and my Kikwis.”

Your- what??

A small splash comes from his right. Slowly the confused smithy turns his head, as far as he can without dipping his face in the water. Something is there next to him. Something like…a very weird-looking- what?? It stares at him with cute eyes and chuckles, opening its bird-like beak slightly.

“Wh-“ Four startles. “-what the hell is that thing??”

Faron only laughs. “Ah, little Link, I assume it’s your first Kikwi encounter. Now don’t worry, he won’t harm you. If he does, boy, tell me and he’s dinner!”

He coughs from the effort of raising his voice, gazing at the little Kikwi playing in the shallow water. What even are those??

And what was that about dinner?

“No…I won’t eat that…whatever it is.” Four mutters, turning his head back to face Faron.

“Oh, you wouldn’t be eating him!” The Water Dragon grins mischievously. “I will.”

Suddenly it all clicks.

It’s her. Faron. That bitchy dragon who eats things smaller than her. And Four is quite a bit smaller—

Oh no.

This can’t be good.

Too weak to sit up fully, he flails his hands and attempts to scamper back, startling the poor Kikwi. “Nonono…” he squeaks out. “Donteatmedonteatmedonteatmedont-“

“Hey, relax!” Faron’s eyes widen. “Did I say I was going to eat you?”

“No, but…I’ve heard things-“

“Of course you have. My Link must have put that idea into your little head.” She scoffs. “Four, I won’t eat you. Take my word.”

The smithy takes a deep breath, laying back down into the water, exhausted from the energy he had just used. Beside him the Kikwi chortles.

“You promise?” he asks, almost in a whisper.

“On my life.”

Wow. She’s serious about this. He still doesn’t quite know if he can trust her…but it’s not like he has much of a choice. The walls of the basin are far too high for him to climb out, and she most likely wouldn’t let him leave in his condition.

He lets out a long sigh. “…Okay.”

I guess I’ll trust you.

“Well! I’m glad we got that sorted out.” The Water Dragon laughs, then pauses to think. “You’ve been in my hands for over a day, it would be a shame if we didn’t get along, now, wouldn’t it?”

Four slowly nods his head, feeling the sacred water continue to gradually lessen the ache. The Kikwi steps closer to him and taps his cheek.

“And me too! I’ve been by your side, kwee!”

Wait. Did that Kikwi just talk?!

He gasps in surprise, wide eyes staring at the small creature. “You…you can talk too??”

“Ah yes, they can.” Faron answers first. “I suppose that’s a detail I should have mentioned before.”

The Kikwi giggles. “Sorry to startle you, little Link. I’m Machi, kwee!”

Machi. What an interesting name.

“H-hi…Machi. It’s nice to meet you, um…” The smithy hesitates. “You can call me Four.”

“Like the number, I know! How peculiar. Where did that name come from, kwee?”

Oh Hylia…Four groans in displeasure. Now is not the best time to explain the whole story of the Four Sword and how he can split into four people, it's…Too much. Far too exhausting.

“Now Machi, don’t overwhelm him.” Faron’s voice, for once, relieves him. “He’s too weak for explaining, that can come later.”

Thank goodness.

“Oh…my apologies, kwee.” Machi’s eyes droop slightly, and Four briefly reaches out to pat its belly.

“It’s okay,” he mutters. The small Kikwi smiles before stepping back to glance up at Faron. Why do they say ‘kwee’ all the time?, he wonders. These little creatures are quite peculiar.

Four takes a deep breath, resting his eyes and letting his body relax once more. Normally he would be able to deal with all these new discoveries; he would be fascinated at Faron and the Kikwis and their ways of life. He would ask Faron why this basin is clearly made for her, and if she’s ever had to use it. He would leave the hall and take a swim for a while, studying the marine life in this unfamiliar region and telling Hyrule excitedly about his findings.

But he is far from strong enough…nowhere near his full self. That will all have to wait, too.

“Little Link, you still look quite drained.” Faron comments. Yep, sounds about right. “Perhaps I shall leave you some space. The more you rest, the quicker you will be healed, boy.”

He blinks his eyes back open, giving the Water Dragon a slight smile. “...Fair enough.”

“I’m sure Lanayru will come by soon. When you’re better, he can pick you up and take you back to your little friend…Hyrule.”

His heart flutters at her mention of the Traveler. Magic exhaustion, he remembers. Rulie has never been out for more than a couple days…he should be waking up soon, right? I hope he’s okay.

“How- how long will this take?” he mumbles. “...To heal, I mean.”

“I’ll be straight with you, Four, the wounds you sustained were severe. Your friend’s healing saved your life, but I estimate several more days before you can be up and around.”

Well, that’s just great. Looks like he won’t be leaving this basin anytime soon.

At least Faron and Machi are decent company. He’s heard scary stories about Faron and her threats to eat almost anything, but at this point she clearly won’t do it to him. The Kikwis, weird as they are, seem quite nice. And he can still hope for visits, from one of his brothers or Lanayru.

“...Okay,” he answers, nodding slowly. He can hear Machi playing in the water, still by his side, while Faron grins.

“You’re a strong hero, little Link,” she assures him. “I have faith in you. Now…I’ll be right back, boy. Please let yourself rest, and don’t go anywhere.”

Four chuckles at her comment. “I won’t, thanks.”

Unless someone comes to take him from the basin, he is most definitely not going anywhere.

He waits for her to disappear out of sight, listening to the sound of her diving underwater, before letting out a long sigh. The lingering tiredness is beginning to win over once again…

You’re safe now. You’re okay.

As he slowly drifts off, he pictures the day when he can finally reunite with Hyrule and the others.

#bailey writes #linked universe #lu four #faron the water dragon #skyward sword #sky’s era #machi the kikwi!#poor four he’s so freaked out he’s never seen a Kikwi ever #wait til he sees the Parella…haha #tw injury #(not graphic)#faron can be nice to people guys woooow #she basically calls all the younger links little link #lanayru and hyrule mentioned

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zorilleerrant · 21 days ago

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For Love Of Dog

@flashfictionfridayofficial

Chris wasn’t supposed to have to deal with this kind of shit when she swore fealty, but that’s the point of swearing fealty, is that your dumbass King can send you wherever he damn well pleases with the explicit instruction ‘keep them from seducing any more empresses’ and the implicit instruction of ‘or doing anything else to be honest’. Chris should’ve run away and joined the Summer Court or something. She has the plant name.

She looks at the dog, cautiously wagging its tail at her, and asks, “you don’t want to be here, either, do you buddy?”

River takes exception to that. Chris doesn’t even have to ask whose dog it is.

“If you give a dog a biscuit and it follows you, that means it’s your dog,” River announces, in that tone of voice that Chris has learned to recognize as a lie. “That’s the rules. I don’t make the rules. Thus it was written.”

“Fine,” Chris says, scratching the dog’s ears in a way that causes the creature to wiggle far more than is probably necessary, “where‘s dog is it?”

River sighs, and deflates. They slowly pour water into a bowl, set it down in front of the dog, and say, “I’m not always lying, you know.”

“Aren’t you?” Chris asks. She lets the dog go to lap up the water. After a moment she rises to her full height, resting on the balls of her feet so she can tower over River for just a moment, but they aren’t having it.

“Alright, so you know how I was robbing Coriolis?”

“You were what?” Chris asks, because this is exactly the sort of thing she’s supposed to be monitoring for, not that anyone would probably expect her to interfere on behalf of Autumn Court, but the king’s at least going to want to know about it.

“Oh, what do you care?” River says, rolling their eyes, and making a vague, probably human gesture with their hands. “He’s an asshole, anyway, and also bad at rimming, which is ironic, because it takes one to know one, right? I was stealing his statues.”

“The complete collection of those weird little dogs from that show?” Chris says, trying to keep her voice level. She has to keep her magic out of sight often enough these days that if she starts yelling at River, something is liable to shatter. As it is, a sheen of frost is already covering the windows. “Where are they? You’re so about to get murdered.”

“Relax, I sold them already,” River says, crossing their arms and looking annoyed, for no coherent reason Chris can think of, given that they just robbed a Duke. “I mean, like, obviously I did, this was on commission, which is why I was even there.”

Against her will, Chris relaxes slightly. It probably helps that the dog has decided to take a nap on her lap and, to that end, has gently and persistently nudged her into a seat on the couch, so it can climb up and use her as a pillow. She pets the dog’s ears again.

“So, you know, there was a dog, and well, what exactly was I supposed to do?” They say, very dramatically, as if the obvious course of action is always stealing dogs. Chris isn’t even sure it’s a lie. She’s pretty certain they believe that.

“If he comes to get his dog you’re going to have to give back his dog,” Chris says, because phrases like a world of hurt and in over your head, while delightfully colorfully and evocative human innovations, don’t seem to mean anything to River.

“No,” they say. They don’t say anything more than that.

“What do you mean, no?” Chris asks. She should know by now not to argue with River when they’re still in Business Mode and thus trying to charismatically sell her something – in this case, as in most, a pack of lies – but she also has to do her duty. Or something. At this point she’s just gotten used to trying to metaphorically shake River by the lapels. “You can’t just keep someone else’s dog because it likes you.”

“I did it for love,” River says. This is obvious as a ramp-up to another sales pitch, but Chris also has to make doubly sure there isn’t a grain of truth in it. That’s, in fact, most of her job (explicit) and also a large part of her job (implicit).

“Who. For love of who. For goddamn love of whom, River?” Chris asks. There are icicles growing down her nails. She makes them grow just a little faster so the gleam will catch River’s eye before they start trying to lie to her again.

“For love of dog, Chris, there’s a dog, it’s sitting right on top of you, what do you mean who do I love?” River rolls their eyes and then takes a seat next to Chris, trying to heft the rest of the dog into their own lap. “If I’d had to leave then I just would’ve been back for the dog anyway, so it made sense to get the whole thing out of the way. A stitch in time saves dog and all that, you know? So of course I –”

“Dognapping, you mean? Get the whole dognapping out of the way?” Fortunately, River is just within reach to throttle, and they know it, so instead of explaining again, they attempt to find a justification that makes sense outside of their own brain.

“Well. I don’t think it was Coriolis’s dog, anyway, in the first place, like he probably stole it, you know?” River says, pleadingly, like that’s going to do anything. Chris can’t control whether a Duke stole a dog. Chris has no pull with any Dukes anyway, let alone something that’s going to impact the space-time continuum.

“You realize,” Chris says, slowly, because if she’s being honest, River probably does not realize, “that it’s still probably someone’s dog, and if you don’t know whose, it’s possibly even more dangerous than we already thought it was in the first place? Like. This could be anyone’s dog. And they’re going to come looking.”

“We, what we?” River says, trying to pry the dog off her lap and set it in their own. “I don’t think it’s dangerous. I think it’s fine. It’s my dog. Aren’t you, sweetie?”

The dog tentatively wags its tail again and licks River’s face.

#look i said something #my writing #original fiction #original character #zorille's river jones totally can lie #Chris is short for Christmas Cactus if you're wondering #like her actual name is in some fae language obv but it's going to refer to the same plant

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pearl484-blog · 1 year ago

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Has Miraculous Lost its Innocence?

Just got an ask from @tallwriter asking if Miraculous has lost its innocence permenantly, but my inbox ate it. Sorry.

So, just to be clear, I'm not really sure I understand the question, so I'll answer it in a few different ways.

Will Miraculous Ladybug ever return to primarily catering towards its younger demograghic again? No, I don't think so. It seems pretty determined to interact with older fans and grow up with its audience. I doubt it's going to backtrack. Which is kinda a shame, because one of the things it seems determined to lose is its episodic nature in exchange for an arc. Unfortunately, the episodic nature is not the writer's strength, and arc plots are...difficult for these writers. Their inexperience in this type of writing shows. Their style of arc building how also lead to them not being able to contain their stories in small chunks anymore, which leads to me ...not enjoying them as much, along with them following this weird piece of writing advice to make whatever is the most painful thing to happen to the characters happen.

On a side note, for any writers out there, please do not follow this advice. For a stronger story with a more coherent theme, figure out what your theme is and try to come up with conflicts that might naturally arise from this, and would enhance your theme instead of distract from it. Think of it like cooking. No matter how tasty all the ingredients in your kitchen can be, you can't make them all, and some foods do not pair well. Figure out what you're working towards, warm and savory? Cool and refreshing? Healthy and lean? Then go towards that. A triple layer chocolate came next to grilled salmon and roasted mixed veggies is an ...odd choice that would raise some eye brows. Is Miraculous always going to have mature themes? Miraculous has always had themes of bullying and child abuse from the beginning. Part of why I liked this show was its realistic depiction of emotional abuse with Adrien, and its refusal to adhere to the trope that is the school bully somehow being the most popular girl at school. Considering how its aiming towards an older audience now, and it's never shied away from subverting comon trope expectations, I do not expect this to change.

However, that is not to say that I enjoy every trope subversion that MLB has done, nor do I think that it has always handled mature subjects very well, but I'll touch on that a bit more in my next section.

Have I Lost My Faith in Miraculous Ladybug Permenantly

Short answer: No. But it's going to need a lot of back bedaling and extremely good writing to make me invested in the series again.

Most of this is related to one unfortunate plot point, the mishandling of child abuse. Of course, that's not the only issue. I also do not like Lila. She is my least favorite character in the entire series. I do understand what the writing team is trying to do with her. They messed up with her character during the episode "Chameleon" and they are trying to fix that error. It is an admirable effort, but unfortunately their attempts to fix that issue have not rendered a villain that is likable or is clever and easy to hate. Unfortunately, each time I see her, I see the hand of the author every time she shows up. Everything about her is contrived, and I do not believe that she could have all these lies. Furthermore, the handling of Chloe in Seasons 4 and 5 also seemed unnaturally spiteful and petty. Perhaps, they were trying to backtrack and make the character someone fun to hate, but unfortunately, they could not. Each time she appeared, I could only sense ill intent from the author, and it was not a good look. The absolute final straw was when Chloe is revealed to have a learning disorder, and Marinette takes the time to say that it is unfair for Chloe to get accomodations for her disability because she's been taking steps to mask it by having Sabrina do her work for her. This does not make me dislike Chloe in the way the authors apparently thought I would.

However, the biggest flub of all is Adrien Agreste. He is abused. I could use an abuse checklist, and he'd hit most if not all the boxes. The show is still one of the most realistic decpictions of emotional abuse in the media and a good demonstration of abuse, why people might not recognize the abuse, why a victim might make excuses for their abuser, why a victim might not believe they are abused, and in season 5, there was an excellent depiction of the honeymoon/apology part of the cycle. I am honestly so shocked at how realistic and well portrayed Adrien's abuse is compared to the stereotypical abused woman who's got bruises and blaming it on walking into a door. BUT dear god. There is so much victim blaming towards Adrien. Adrien is too weak to stand up for himself. Adrien needs protecting from his own fragile emotions. Adrien can't know information. Adrien keeps fawning. He keeps making VERY concerning statements about himself, his feelings, his relationships to people, and no one realizes how fucked up it is. No one challenges him. The narrative, at several points, ends with his fucked up abuse logic being the end-point of the conflict. In order for Miraculous Ladybug to regain my faith in it, I need for people to challenge the fawning. I need for Adrien's unhealthy behavoirs and mindset to be challenged. I need for those behavoirs to be shown as wrong. And I need for the victim blaming to be shown as wrong. I need for people to understand what they did was wrong.

The senti-monster thing, by the way, DOES NOT HELP. It is not a good metaphor for abuse. Gabriel and Adrien was a good representation of a parent abusing their own child, now it's a representation of a creator abusing his creation. There is so little representation of a parent abusing their biological offspring. Why destroy it?

Did the authors not think the audience would be able to understand why Adrien obeys without magic? By making him controlled by an item, they undermined the whole abuse theme.

Adrien should be controlled by the man who raised him. The man he loved his whole life. The man who should've loved him. The man everyone told him loved him and knew what was best for him.

Adrien has been emotionally crushed his whole life. Told he's impulsive, too emotional, that he never makes good descisions, and the only way for him to be worthy of love is to be obedient, to be unresisting, to be perfect. He should think that molding himself to whatever people wants him to be is right, is expected, and his friends should challenge that. But they don't.

Each relationship Adrien has has been carved away besides Marinette and Plagg. Marinette will not help him. She cannot help him. Plagg is an abuse victim whose also internalized worldviews similiar to Adrien. He teaches him how to rebel. He understands these rules, but Plagg cannot acknowledge them as healthy.

Miraculous can restore my faith by re-aligning its abuse structure. Backpedaling and saying that abuse victims are not weak because they bend their knee. That sometimes they see obedience as the only option to survive, and that's okay. That victim blaming is not okay. That accomodation is good and necessary, and its wrong to be a jerk about it. That fawning is unhealthy. That molding yourself to what others want you to be is unhealthy. That judging your self-worth on how useful you are or how happy you make other people is not healthy.

I do not think it will do that. But it could. And the fandom has done that, so I will continue interacting with the fandom.

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skyloftian-nutcase · 1 year ago

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Breath of the Sky Ch 11 (SS meets BotW)

Summary: When Princess Zelda goes to the Spring of Courage to pray, accompanied by her appointed knight, a giant magical cog spitting out a goddess is the last thing she expects, but it is what she gets. Meanwhile, the Spirit Maiden Zelda is trying to figure out what the heck is happening and where her missing chosen hero is.

(AO3 link)

Chapter 11: Fledgling Friendships

Zelda walked with haste, her mind so preoccupied with everything she’d just learned. She was caught in a confused haze, head whirling with too many words and images, to the point that she couldn’t focus on a single coherent train of thought. It felt like when she’d started to recover her memories – her mind had been so utterly overwhelmed with an entirely new life and revelation that she’d been practically catatonic for a few hours sometimes.

Speaking of being completely distracted, Zelda gasped in surprise when she nearly collided right into someone as she rounded the corner. The person had quick reflexes, taking a step back, and it took her a minute to recognize him.

It was that knight from before. The one with the Master Sword.

“Oh!” she said softly, eyes wide. “You’re—”

She paused, realizing several things at once. First, her interactions with him had been amidst a high amount of stress and emotions, meaning she’d been fairly rude, and second, she had absolutely no idea what his name was.

“U-uh…” she continued awkwardly. “I don’t think I ever actually got your name, sorry.”

The knight watched her carefully, face decidedly neutral as he blinked a few times, and then he said in a soft voice, “Link.”

Zelda stared.

Of course his name is Link, her mind whispered. Link and Zelda, here to save the world from Demise once again. What a cruel joke.

Had the Golden Goddesses even done anything to try to stop this? She barely remembered anything about them, even with all her recovered memories of a life past. Did they even care? Somehow she couldn’t figure it out – she felt like a part of her knew they were distantly invested, but she also reasoned out that they’d left her in charge of everything, which implied that they… weren’t paying attention anymore.

She didn’t even know. All she knew was that she was screwing up this conversation like she had the others.

“Right. Link.” She said, trying to gather her thoughts. “Um. I’m Zelda.”

The two stared at each other a moment, and then Zelda wanted to smack herself. Hastily, she shook her hands with an embarrassed laugh. “But you already—I mean—wow okay, I just—”

She sighed, cutting herself off. “I’m sorry. I’m—this is a lot. I wasn’t—I wasn’t prepared for any of this.”

The strange knight watched her, and his lack of reaction made her a little uneasy. His silence reminded her of her own Link, but her husband was so expressive, she could practically read his thoughts on his face. This one was very much the opposite.

What… had they done to him? Was he just like this? No one was naturally just like this.

“I guess it would be confusing to call me Zelda, what with the princess and all,” she said, trying to keep a conversation going. “But um… it’s nice to meet you. Formally, I mean. Because like… you know, we didn’t… I mean we met before, but I never got your name and there was a lot of stuff going on.”

The knight nodded subtly.

Zelda wondered if perhaps this was anxiety, or the same breeding as the other guards who had knelt and not even looked her in the eye. At least he was making eye contact.

Just as the thought crossed her mind, this Link also seemed to realize it, and his eyes widened as he clumsily fell to his knee.

Zelda had to laugh at the maneuver, feeling equal parts guilty and amused. “Hey, it’s okay, stop doing that. I’m… we’re going to be working together a lot, I think. Please. Can we just be friends?”

Slowly, the knight glanced up at Zelda, timidness evident in the way his eyebrows were raised and how he hid his eyes under his hair. Zelda smiled, crouching down to be at eye level with him, and the motion made him pull back just a hair, eyes widening.

“I promise I don’t bite,” Zelda laughed. “Well. I mean… okay, if you asked my husband he’d say I bite but—”

The knight’s face flushed, and Zelda realized what she’d just said, hastily tripping over herself to explain, “I mean—like—like as in I can be aggressive, but—oh my gosh, that’s not—I’m—”

Just shut up, you’re making it worse!

“Ugh, this is so stupid,” Zelda finally said aloud, smacking herself in the face and rising. “I’m sorry, let’s just try again. I want to be friends, okay?”

The knight watched her for what felt like an eternity before he slowly stood. It seemed like it was the best reaction she was going to get out of him.

“So anyway,” Zelda continued awkwardly. Trying to have a conversation with this teenager felt like pulling teeth. Her own Link (good grief, they’d need to find a way to differentiate) had been very quiet and shy when they’d first become friends, but he hadn’t been so understated on top of it. “I was looking for the princess. Do you know where she is?”

The knight shook his head.

Zelda hummed thoughtfully. “Well, maybe we can look for her together? You know this place better than me; I’d get absolutely lost.”

The knight swallowed, nodding slowly. When nothing else happened, Zelda motioned for them to start walking down the cavernous hallway. A few moments later she realized he wasn’t beside her. She glanced back to see if he’d just stayed put, but instead he was following her a few paces back.

"You know... the hallway's big enough we can walk beside each other. You don't have to walk behind me." She noted, waving the space beside her with a smile.

The swordsman took a shaky, fortifying breath before stepping ahead a little faster to catch up to her. He continuously glanced at her, though he kept his face decidedly neutral. Zelda had to chuckle at it – the poor thing was very anxious, wasn’t he?

Her smile faded, as she realized her earlier behavior was probably part of the reason. That and, well… all the other things.

“I’m sorry,” she reiterated. “I… remember how I said I only bite sometimes? When people I love are in danger… I mean… especially Link… I wasn’t thinking. I just reacted, you know? I’m sorry I was mean to you.”

The knight stopped abruptly, making Zelda skid to a halt. He immediately regretted his decision, awkwardly trying to resume their walk and then stopping again when Zelda didn’t move.

“What is it?” she asked.

The newer Link remained stubbornly silent. Zelda crossed her arms. “I know you can talk, Link.”

The knight shriveled subtly, looking at the floor.

Zelda watched him a while longer, confused. “What’s wrong?”

After another shuddering breath, the knight whispered, “It’s n-nothing, Your Grace. I beg your pardon for s-stopping.”

The assertive, stubborn part of Zelda swelled within her, wanting to grab this knight by the shoulders and shake him and say she wasn’t going to strike him down if he uttered a sound and that he needed to lighten up. But she held herself in check, smiling instead and holding a hand out as if to a scared child. “Well let’s keep going, then. Maybe you can tell me about the palace?”

This Link watched her hand hesitantly as the realization dawned on him, and he slowly raised his own hand in response. When his fingers delicately folded around hers, he made a motion to kneel again, and Zelda was reminded strikingly of her and Link’s conversation in the Temple of Hylia.

She quickly jerked him towards her once she had a grip on him, erasing that memory and any attempt to repeat it. The knight stumbled forward, face finally expressing terror and shock, before she caught him easily by the shoulder. Then she laughed. “That’s better! Let’s go.”

Having his hand in hers was a grounding force for Zelda, and she sighed in relief as they strolled through the hallway. His grip was stiff, though, reminding her that she really should try to ease his worries. She herself was filled with a thousand anxieties, but she didn’t want to scare him when he already seemed petrified.

She wondered how knowing his destiny had affected him. What he even expected his destiny to be.

She’d ask later. He was far too scared for such a conversation right now. And it delayed the inevitable for a while longer – befriending him meant she didn’t have to think about the king’s request… at least until she found the princess.

“So what’s your story, Link?” she asked. “My husband trained as a knight too, you know. A lot of us do on Skyloft. Was it kind of just expected for you too? My father’s the headmaster of the knight’s academy, what about your family?”

Before Link could even attempt to answer, his gaze drifted elsewhere, and Zelda tracked it to see one of the colorfully dressed guards ahead. He looked like he was heading somewhere rather than standing guard, but he quickly noticed them. For an instant his eyes were fixed on Link rather than Zelda, and then he knelt.

Wait, she recognized this guard. “Hey, you’re the guard who found us in Castle Town the other night!”

“I am, Your Grace,” he acknowledged.

For a split second there was a strange moment where the guard glanced up long enough to look somewhere between Zelda and the knight she was with, and then he looked at the ground once more.

“Thanks for the help that night,” Zelda said. “You know, with answering questions and all that.”

“It is my honor, Your Grace.”

He reminded Zelda of Impa. Her Impa. He held a very strong sense of duty and protocol but wasn’t groveling or petrified like the others. She liked him.

“Do you know where Princess Zelda is?” she asked. “Link and I were looking for her.”

“To my knowledge, Your Grace, the princess is in her quarters.”

Zelda looked around uncertainly. “Oh. Uh… do you know where that is?”

“I can take Your Grace there if you please.”

Zelda hummed thoughtfully, glancing at Link. “Do you know where it is?”

The knight swallowed and nodded.

With that settled, Zelda smiled at the guard. “We got it, thanks! I don’t want to bother you too much, I’m sure you have important duties to attend to.”

She knew better than to wait for an acknowledgement, given how everyone acted around her, so instead she tugged the swordsman along as they walked around the guard. The hallway seemed to be never ending, and it felt like the knight was dragging his feet the farther they went.

Zelda tried to ease his worries, as well as her own, by talking about anything but what she’d just discussed with the king. “So how long have you been here? Do you know the castle pretty well?”

“I can direct you, Your Grace,” came the hesitant and quiet answer.

“No, that’s not—I mean like have you been here long,” Zelda clarified.

“A few years, Your Grace.”

“Oh! So you must be pretty familiar with all this,” Zelda said cheerily. “I could never – this place is so huge. Skyloft isn’t nearly this big. It’s just… it’s really amazing seeing what our settlement turns into. I never imagined it would be this big.”

When Link didn’t comment, Zelda changed tactics. “So how long will it take to get to the princess’ quarters? I feel like you could spend a couple days just going from one side of the castle to the other.”

The swordsman stilled, eyes downcast. Zelda watched him confusedly for a moment, prompting, “What’s wrong?”

“We’re…” he muttered. “We’re going the wrong way, Your Grace.”

Zelda blinked. Then she laughed. “Well, why didn’t you tell me, silly!”

As the pair got turned around, Zelda finally decided she really did need to address the skytail in the room. “Look. I… I understand this is weird, you know? With the ceremony, with how I acted before… but… I’m… we’re going to be working together and…”

Zelda paused, feeling vulnerable and not entirely sure she liked it. But if it meant this knight would stop acting so weird, she was willing to speak a little on the matter. “This place is overwhelming to me. I’m… I’m scared too. Please don’t think that just because your people worship means that I actually am an infallible goddess. I’m just me, I promise.”

Despite her words, she got little reaction from the knight. Sighing, she looked away, but then she felt the slightest squeeze in her hand, and she belatedly realized it was Link trying to give her something to work with.

She looked back at the knight and smiled. “Well… I guess we should keep looking. Maybe you should lead the way, though.”

The knight nodded, walking ahead with her hand still in his. With their objective made clear, Zelda found herself just as silent as her companion, no longer really able to push off the thoughts that were nagging her earlier. She instead redirected her attention to examining the knight. He really held little to no resemblance to her own Link – he was thinner in build, a little shorter, his hair was lighter and longer and less fluffy, and his demeanor was practically entirely opposite. Yet… there was something about him that made her watch him, something eerily familiar and practically magnetic.

Not to mention the sword that rested on his back.

Zelda felt the wind get knocked out of her just looking at the blade. It was still distressing realizing that after everything…

Why? Why? She had planned it all so meticulously, even had backup plans – for heaven’s sake, Link was the backup plan. He wasn’t even supposed to be involved if it wasn’t necessary.

Yet everything had failed. Everything.

She had failed in the original war. She’d only sealed him away, and at a terrible cost. She’d failed in the new plan, to obtain the Triforce herself, if possible, rather than involve Link. She’d failed in the backup plan, where Link was supposed to be the one to fix things while she held the seal.

Tears stung in her eyes, and she hastily wiped them away before anyone could notice. Why did Demise have to be a reality they still had to contend with? Why couldn’t they just… have a kingdom and be happy? Surely there were enough problems in the world without a demon king adding to them?

Perhaps it serves as a unifying thing, she thought listlessly, a small glimmering of hope latching to it. Everyone can get behind defeating pure evil.

If that were the case, though… if the entire world was unified in supporting this knight and the princess… why did he seem so broken and afraid?

She supposed it was a silly question. She herself had been terrified on her journey. But she’d had Impa. Link had Fi.

Who did this boy have? Surely he had everyone, right? Was he just naturally this timid? Or was it because she was viewed as Hylia by all?

Zelda’s musings were interrupted when they stopped in front of a door. The knight hesitantly raised his free hand to knock and then paused, glancing at her and waiting for her to give some kind of signal.

Smiling, she pushed ahead and knocked gently on the door. When she got no response, she started to open it, curious if the princess was even there. The pair slowly shuffled into the room, both a little sheepish (one far more so than the other), and then paused in the entranceway.

The soft snoring from the bed was immediately familiar. The two lumps in the bed told her the rest.

Zelda snorted out a laugh. Of course Link had somehow found his way here to sleep. She was surprised the princess was asleep in the middle of the day though. Her heart warmed with endearment as she whispered, “I guess some traits did make it through all the generations.”

Apparently Princess Zelda was as much of a sleepyhead as Link was.

She honestly didn’t want to wake them. She was certainly curious how Link had found his way here and how much he had talked to the princess before they’d both settled in for a nap, but she also didn’t want to disturb the moment. She definitely didn’t want to address the issue that had brought her here.

But there was honestly little point in avoiding it. Sighing, she pulled out some feathers from her pouch she’d been carrying with her, handing one to the knight. As she did so, she saw his stupefied expression as he stared at the pair in the bed, eyes wide and face pale.

“What’s wrong?” she asked. “Are you okay?”

The swordsman jumped, startled, and glanced at her, bemusement apparent. His cheeks flushed, and he glanced between her and the bed.

Zelda stared, completely baffled. A thought slowly coalesced in her mind, picturing all the stiff protocol she’d seen so far. “Is this something to do with manners or something? Because she’s an important figure?”

The swordsman blinked, and despite his efforts for his stoicism, the disbelief was apparent on his face.

“You’re an important figure too, so it shouldn’t be a big deal to be in here, right?” Zelda questioned confusedly. “I mean… you didn’t have any issues leading me here.”

The knight’s brow furrowed.

“You were with her earlier,” Zelda threw out the observation with a shrug. “What’s the problem?”

When she got no response, she handed the feather over to him. “Here. I’ll wake up Link, you wake up the princess.”

Zelda went to the bed without sparing him another glance, bending over and inching the feather close to her beloved’s nose. Link was curled into the blankets, his face barely visible, but she still managed to maneuver the weapon into place. As she tickled under his nose, she giggled when he scrunched it in response, his brow furrowing. Link groaned slightly, slinking away and bumping into the princess’ back. Zelda smirked, having already started to wake him up, and decided drastic measures were required. Leaping into the air, she landed on the bed, bouncing right beside her husband as he yelped and kicked in all directions, landing a hit on both his wife and the bedpost.

“Ouch!” they both yelled as the princess squealed and fell right out of the bed with a loud thud.

Gasping, Zelda crawled over Link to look over at the floor, where the knight had also rushed to the princess’ side. “Are you okay?”

The princess was panting for air as if she’d run across all of Skyloft ten times over. Zelda felt a little guilty – she supposed she shouldn’t have startled the girl. She was just having some fun with Link.

“Sorry,” Zelda said, making the princess freeze. The girl looked up at her, horror in her eyes, and then she registered the knight in front of her and squeaked, pulling a blanket off the bed to wrap herself in it. In doing so, she yanked both Zelda and Link, making them tumbled over each other, but the princess didn’t have enough strength to actually get the cloth out from under them.

The knight rose to his feet awkwardly, brow pinched as he looked between the three.

“Zelda,” Link whined from underneath Zelda. Both she and the princess looked at him, and it was at that moment that Zelda realized they really needed to work out a naming system for everyone.

In the meantime, she said, “It’s time to get up, sleepyheads!”

Despite her cheer and Link’s good-natured grumbling, the princess seemed absolutely… mortified. She looked at the knight in horror, cheeks as red as Groose’s hair, and she pulled her nightgown more tightly around her, burying her face in her knees.

Zelda looked between the pair. She was definitely missing something. The knight turned around to look a different direction, staring pointedly at the wall.

Honestly, they were acting as if they’d stumbled in on the princess bathing or something.

Oh. Wait. Was… was finding her sleeping bad in this era?

Just as Zelda was about to ask, the princess rose and rushed towards some stairs, disappearing quickly. Zelda and Link exchanged confused glances. Before she could go after the girl, though, Link followed her, leaving her and the knight alone in the bedroom.

“That was weird,” Zelda muttered. “Is… did we do something wrong?”

The knight turned slightly, eying her in profile. From this vantage point, his neutral glance looked more questioning.

“Seriously, though,” Zelda pressed on. “I… you guys act so differently from us. What’s wrong?”

Eventually, the knight seemed to realize she was genuinely asking, and he faced her fully. “It’s… not proper to see someone undressed like that. Or in bed with... B-but—that just doesn't apply to Your Grace, I—”

Here the knight’s mouth snapped shut, like he was trying to explain but was fumbling too much to try and continue. Zelda watched him a moment longer, thinking about it, and then sighed. “Oh. Oops. I’m sorry.”

The room was dead silent, and then Zelda continued, staring at her lap. “It’s just… so different here. I didn’t mean any offense or anything. I didn’t mean to upset her, or you.”

She sighed, glancing up, and smiled despite the knight’s seemingly neutral reaction. “Well, maybe we shouldn’t linger in here, then. If it’s going to upset her and all. Can you show me where the gardens are? There were tiny birds there that I liked.”

The knight glanced at the stairs, as if to express his concern for the princess, and Zelda hopped off the bed, waving her hand. “Don’t worry about the princess. Link will talk to her.”

You’re avoiding the actual conversation you need to have, a voice whispered in her mind, but she ignored it. She didn't want to further upset the princess, after all. She'd let Link smooth it over; the pair had seemed to have bonded a little, at least. She could learn about the knight instead. He had the Master Sword. He was important too.

“Show me the way to the garden,” she asked, holding out her hand. “And tell me about yourself! I’ll tell you about me.”

The knight watched her before quickly taking her hand, as if he didn’t do so fast enough he’d be in trouble. She frowned at it. “Remember I said we could be friends, right?”

The knight stared at her. Zelda sighed. This was going to take some work. But she’d figure it out.

XXX

The stone stairs in the room led to a hallway that connected to a separate tower. Link had to marvel at the size of this place all over again. The room downstairs alone could act as a house for most on Skyloft.

Never mind the scale, however – something was upsetting the girl, the princess. What was her name again?

Oh, he abruptly remembered. Oh.

Princess Zelda was seated on the ground of the hallway between the stairs and the tower, knees tucked under her chin. Her head barely peeked over the stone railing. A gentle breeze blew by, rustling her soft silky robe and dress, rustling hair into Link’s face as he carelessly brushed it aside.

Approaching her hesitantly, Link asked, “Are you okay?”

The princess jumped, startled at his approach and his words. “Am I—what are you doing out here, you can’t see me like this! Nobody but servants and my family—”

She stopped abruptly. Link stared at her. The word family bounced around in his mind again, feeling so foreign and magical, bizarre and otherworldly, exciting and terrifying.

This girl was his family. Separated by countless years, yes, but family nonetheless. Link… hadn’t had that in a very long time. At least not by blood.

“You’re—I mean—don’t you understand how improper that was?!” the princess tried again, burying her face in her knees. “I can’t do anything right.”

“Improper?” Link repeated, tilting his head to the side. “Why?”

“Why?” the princess repeated, baffled as she looked at him once more. “What do you—because it’s—I’m dressed too—and I was in bed with—and—”

She lost either her nerve or her ability to articulate at this point, shaking her head and plopping her forehead on her knees once more. Link watched her a moment longer, unsure, and moved to sit beside her when she jumped, seeming to realize something.

“I don’t—I’m sorry to be rude,” she said hastily. “I-it isn’t my intent to be disrespectful or anything, it’s just—I—isn’t it improper for you too? Why were you in my bed?!”

Link furrowed his brow. Her tone had changed, as if she’d gone from mortified to scared. What was she afraid of?

…Was she afraid of him?

Link bit his lip uncertainly, plopping himself onto the ground beside her. What reason did she have to be afraid of him? Was it because of the big fuss her people made the other night? If the words they spoke in their fairytale rendering of his journey were what they truly believed, then they really didn’t understand the full magnitude of the situation.

They didn’t understand that this was his fault. They shouldn’t be showing him any kind of respect. Link hadn’t done his job, apparently.

Demise was still alive.

The thought both chilled him to his core and enraged him. He wanted to hunt him down now, he wanted to kill him now, he wanted to run away and hide in a corner and beg Fi to wake up and tell him what the hell he was supposed to do. None of this had been part of the plan.

Not like he’d been privileged to the plan anyway.

Link shook his head, ridding his mind of the unexpectedly bitter thought. He needed to focus on the princess, not his own issues.

“I’m sorry you’re upset,” he offered quietly.

“Link saw me in bed! And I was in bed with a stranger—well, you’re not a stranger, but—but you’re the Hero of Myth and Legend! The rumors that will fly—” the princess shook her head, her hands reached to her scalp and dug through her hair anxiously.

Was that what was bothering her? Rumors? “You shouldn’t worry about what others think of you. Besides, what are they going to say?”

“We were in bed together!”

“And?”

The princess stared at him again, a baffled expression on her face. “Doesn’t that mean something to you?”

Link squinted, wondering what in the world she was getting at. “…No?? Beds are for sleeping, and that’s what we did?”

The princess stared at him and seemed to give up, sighing and looking away.

“Who cares about rumors, anyway?” Link said, shrugging.

“It matters what people say about me,” the princess muttered. “You don’t have an entire kingdom relying on you.”

Link paused, feeling the heaviness in her words. He… didn’t really have a way to fathom it. The highest authoritative figure he knew was the headmaster, and Gaepora had never really cared if students didn’t like him. He wasn’t a bad man, but he did what he thought was best whether the students liked it or not. Besides, what if he had listened to popular opinion? What if he’d listened to Groose when he whined that Link wasn’t good enough for the academy?

Before Link could really ponder the matter more, the princess jolted and looked back at him and shook her head. “I—I didn’t mean—”

“No, you’re right,” Link cut in. “I don’t have that many people relying on me like that, I guess. I can’t even think about it. Just based on how many people I saw at the party… you have a lot depending on you.”

The princess bit her lip, looking down before returning his gaze. “You did too, I suppose. I shouldn’t assume that my problems are greater than yours, that just because I’m incapable in my duty that yours was somehow lesser.”

“Incapable in your duty?” Link repeated. “Is today really that bad?”

The princess sighed wearily. “No, it’s… it’s not that. I’m sorry.”

Silence filled the air, only interrupted by the wind whistling past flags and between the stone teeth cut into the railing above them. Link shifted uncomfortably; usually he wasn’t bothered by silence, but the anxious and dejected air about the girl was unfitting and he wanted to fix it. He tried changing tactics.

“Your name is Zelda, right?” Link asked, and the princess nodded. “That’s… so weird.”

At the princess’ bemused and embarrassed look, Link hastily added, “N-not in a bad way! It’s just… my wife’s name is Zelda too. I’m going to get you two confused if I say Zelda and you’re both with me!”

“She goes by Zelda?” the princess questioned.

“Yes,” Link immediately answered firmly. “She… she went by Hylia before, but ever since her, uh… her rebirth, she prefers to go by Zelda. It’s who she is now.”

“That’s so… fascinating,” Princess Zelda whispered, glancing off to Link’s left at nothing in particular.

“Well, either way, it’s going to be confusing,” Link said, dismissing the focus on his wife’s past. He didn’t entirely understand it still, but he knew it bothered her. He’d seen her discomfort during the feast, so he wasn’t going to encourage the behavior to continue. “Do you have a nickname? She doesn’t. Or—wait, your dad has like fifty names, right? Do you have more names?”

The princess stared at him a moment and then burst out laughing. Then her hands flew to her mouth, her cheeks as red as his loftwing. “I—I’m sorry, n-no, I don’t.”

Link thought about it a moment. “What about Zellie?”

The princess stared at him. “Zellie?”

Link shrugged. He wasn’t going to call her something she didn’t like, but she wasn’t coming up with anything, so he figured he’d just throw it out there. The princess watched him a moment longer, her gaze growing distant as a small smile played at her lips.

Closing her eyes, she seemed to try to center herself. “My mother used to call me that.”

Oh. Maybe a bit too personal, then. Link was about to say so when the princess said, “I like it.”

Link smiled. “Ok. Zellie, it is.” Then he grew somber as he remembered not seeing a female king (was there a term for that?) at the feast. “What… happened to your mother?”

“She died when I was six,” the princess answered. Her tone was neutral, polite, but he could tell in the way she was squeezing her hands that it still bothered her.

Link watched her for a moment longer and then looked away. “I’m sorry. I lost my dad around that time too.”

He heard her turn her head to look at him. “You had a dad?”

Link whipped his head to stare at her. “Yes??”

Then he remembered their story from the other night and he laughed. “I—I wasn’t made from a cloud, you know! I was born to parents just like you!”

The princess’ face flushed bright red. “I—”

Link waved a hand as he giggled. “It’s okay, it’s what you were taught. I just—”

He couldn’t continue, falling apart into a fit of laughter. Maybe he should have just said he actually was made from clouds; it would have been funnier.

I’ll do it next time someone asks.

“So… how did Hylia… I mean, did she even…” Zellie shifted to face him more fully. “What happened?”

Link’s laughter died down, reality sinking into him once more. He cleared his throat a little uncomfortably. “Uh… she… I mean, she chose me, but…”

“Is Hylia your… your mother…?” the princess asked, her face pinched in a manner that showed she was disgusted at the thought but trying not to show it.

“Ew, no!” Link immediately exclaimed. His reaction caused the princess to flinch, but the girl also looked relieved at the words. “My mother was a craftswoman, she worked in the bazaar.”

“What did she make?”

Link stared off and shrugged, looking back at her somewhat apologetically. “I… don’t remember what my dad said she made, honestly. He’s been gone so long, and… she died giving birth to me. I never knew her.”

She looked sad. “I��m sorry. To never know what having a mother is like… I can’t imagine.”

“What was your mother like?”

Zellie stared at her hands as her legs slowly slid out and straightened. “She was… wise. Beautiful. Caring and so gentle. She always seemed to know what to do.”

The princess bit her lip, somehow growing even more somber.

“I’m sorry,” Link said quietly. “She sounds like a good mother.”

“Oh, how I wish she could have met you and the goddess,” Zellie said, a sad smile playing at her lips. “I imagine she would have loved it. And… yes. She would have loved it.”

“She probably is loving it,” Link nudged her with his shoulder, giving her a reassuring smile. “Wherever she is. She’s probably laughing and thinking it’s silly that you were upset earlier.”

Zellie huffed. “It isn’t silly! My position is important, and maintaining dignity is part of it. I’m not like you, I…”

The princess cut herself off, rising abruptly, before she jolted and crouched beneath the railing to stay out of sight. It was… rather silly to watch. Link felt a little bad for her.

“Why aren’t you like me?” he asked.

Zellie continued to face away from him in her awkward crouch, and her shoulders drooped as she sighed. “Oh, this is all wrong. I shouldn’t be speaking to you this way, I apologize.”

“Why? What other way should you be speaking to me?” Link queried, wondering if she’d ever turn around. “I’m just me.”

“You’re the Hero. Created by Hylia—or, well, chosen by Hylia, I guess, but—you defeated the Calamity! You’re—” Zellie finally did turn, struggling for words. “I should be showing so much more respect to you. I’m sorry.”

“Please don’t be sorry,” Link immediately assuaged her worries, giving her a gentle smile. “I don’t like being talked to like I’m some fairytale. I’m a person, just like you.”

“I’m a princess.”

“So does that mean you’re not a person?”

“No! No, it’s just…” Zellie sighed, unsure how to continue. Then she huffed. “What you did the other night was just because you wanted to, wasn’t it? It had nothing to do with dominance.”

Dominance?? “Huh?”

“When you sat on the throne with the goddess.”

“I felt like I was going to pass out,” Link explained sheepishly. “I needed to sit. Also, Zel looked upset.”

The princess stared at him. Blinked. And then she let out a shaky breath. “You… oh, you’re still sick, that’s right.”

“No,” Link argued. “I was overwhelmed. I’ve never seen so many people, especially not all staring at me.”

“You… were scared?”

Link bit his tongue a moment. He’d gotten into the habit of saying he wasn’t scared, of saying things didn’t bother him. He’d had to. But… he felt like honesty was needed here. “…Yeah. Yeah, I was.”

If you wish to be of help to Her Grace, you must summon a shred of courage and face the trails laid out before you.

Goddesses above. He’d thought he had helped. Instead, he’d cursed everything and everyone.

Link felt sick. He felt so, so sick. His words hung in the air, held heavily in place in the stillness and silence. The words were swept away, however, when he heard a strange sound from far beneath them, like mechanical whirring and large footsteps. Curious, he rose and looked down over the railing to see a giant robot with legs akin to a skulltulla, its head swiveling as it people stood around it. The princess stood and peeked over, eyes barely above the railing, and she smiled.

“That’s a guardian,” she said eagerly.

Link felt his blood run cold at the word, and he shook his head. Clearly, this was something different than that. “O-oh?”

“They were made long ago by the Sheikah,” Zellie explained. “They helped defeat the Calamity ten thousand years ago. We’re hoping to reutilize them.”

“They still work?” Link questioned, squinting at them and thinking of all the broken down robots in Lanayru. “Or are you using timeshift stones?”

Zellie whipped her had to look at him. “Timeshift stones? What are those?”

Apparently not. “They control time within a certain radius. It’s… how I got here, I think.”

The princess slid to the ground again to stay hidden from the rest of the world, her brow furrowed. “You came here using a timeshift stone?”

“It… was an accident,” Link offered feebly with a shrug as he sat beside her again. “I was in a mine full of them and there was an explosion.”

“You… you came here by accident?”

“Uh… yeah.” Now Link was starting to feel guilty. Had… had they all actually thought he and Zel had come here on purpose? What was their thought process with that?

We seek your care and protection and favors, And hope you grant them through your sages.

The prayer from the other night lingered in his mind once more, and he felt a shiver run down his spine. Did… did they…?

Oh goddesses.

He shut that train of thought down so quickly he could practically hear the door slam closed in his mind. This was just an adventure. This was fine. He was fine.

You can’t avoid your own failure, a voice whispered that sounded annoyingly like Impa.

His thoughts weren’t wrong, though. What was he going to do? If he’d kept avoiding the matter on his own adventure, Zel would be dead, Demise would have won, the world would have ended.

Why hadn’t it been enough? Why hadn’t he been enough?

“I hadn’t planned on being here,” Link said quietly, refusing to make eye contact, dragging the words out of him. “But… I think maybe the goddesses had. To help you.”

The princess was quiet a moment before saying softly, “I suppose Link will appreciate the help.”

Link? He was Link. What?

Goddess. That knight. “His… his name is Link too?”

“Well, yes,” Zellie answered matter-of-factly. “Many boys are named Link because of you.”

Nope. This was getting to be too much again. Link rose abruptly, growing dizzy. Words left him, and he hummed when Zellie also shot to her feet and held a hesitant hand out to stabilize him.

I suppose Link will appreciate the help. Ha! As if someone who seemed so capable could possibly need a failure’s assistance. He had Fi now. Link wasn’t needed. He was replaced.

Well, of course you were, this is a bajillion years in the future, idiot, he thought. Then he sighed. It didn’t matter. Whether there was a Chosen Hero or not… he’d…

He’d failed. He’d failed.

“I… I think he’s down there with Her Grace.”

Glancing over the railing, he saw Zel and the knight looking at the guardian. Fi was strapped securely on the knight’s back as if she belonged there.

Because she did.

He’d gotten sick earlier just looking at him, just thinking about all the ways he’d gone wrong, all the ways he’d dumped his failures onto the knight’s shoulders. It was no wonder the knight acted as if he were the scum of the earth.

He was.

Link wanted nothing more than to jump down there and be with his wife. He wanted nothing more than to go home and pretend he hadn’t learned about any of this. But how could he possibly avoid the truth of the future he’d doomed?

I suppose Link will appreciate the help. No. No, he wouldn’t. There was no way Link could help this knight.

You’ve already failed before and still gotten back up, he reminded himself. You completely failed Zelda and still…

Still what? Succeeded? Triumphed? Clearly not.

Link just… needed to be alone. He needed to get away. He pointedly looked away from Zelda and the knight, looked away from the princess who was watching him, and turned on his heel, disappearing down the stairs and letting his feet take him anywhere, anywhere to get him out of there.

XXX

“Wow,” Hylia breathed as she looked at the guardian. “These things are incredible. And so big!”

Link watched her hesitantly, still trying to get his heart rate under control. Despite the goddess’ casual demeanor, he still wasn’t quite able to shake the fact that he was talking to a goddess. There had to be some kind of protocol he was completely messing up, but she hadn’t shown offense and had insisted on casual interaction.

Of course, he wasn’t entirely sure what she considered casual interaction, so it was best to just stay silent unless prompted. And even then… goddess. He didn’t know what to do.

Goddess! Maybe he shouldn’t invoke her while he was thinking about her.

This entire day had been one disaster after another. First he’d been so distracted he’d nearly gotten himself injured while sparring with Mipha, worrying his dearest friend, and then he’d run into the Hero and had somehow—well. He didn’t know. He didn’t know.

Running into Hylia herself had not been in the plans for the day. He’d just wanted to find Zelda and talk to her. He’d just needed someone to parse his thoughts and worries with.

Of course running into the princess while she was in bed with a man was how this day was going to go. The impropriety of it all—the one good thing was that the only witnesses seemed completely clueless that it was wrong. Not to mention, if Hylia casually talked about running into the princess in bed alongside her immortal spouse and her current Hero, no one would question anything about it.

That didn’t make it any less embarrassing, though. And he felt bad for Zelda, too. The girl worried so much about protocols and how she was perceived.

“So they helped defeat De—Calamity Ganon in the past?”

Link nodded. Again, he wondered how she didn’t know this. How she didn’t know anything. He didn’t dare question it, didn’t dare try to parse out how a goddess of time wasn’t aware of what had happened through the ages. That felt sacrilegious to even think about, let alone ask her. Despite how seemingly normal she was trying to act, how much he truly wanted to ask about it, he wouldn't dare.

He had planned on asking Zelda, though. But he supposed it was a moot point now.

Link stared at the goddess longer than he probably should have, but… her attire caught his attention. She’d been wearing it when she’d first appeared. It was just like the Hero’s, like the ancient traditional garb from the stories and tapestries. He wondered if the Hero’s attire was fashioned after her own, then, when she’d created him. It looked nothing like the statues, and it was far more practical.

It was a uniform. It was armor. He could see the chainmail. Hylia wasn’t just a gentle, benign goddess. She was a warrior. It was an aspect of her that he’d never really known or realized, and he wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it.

If she’d been a warrior, too, why had she needed a Hero? Or was it ceremonial? Was she a goddess of knights and soldiers and he hadn’t known? Maybe that was why she didn’t know what was happening – maybe she wasn’t a goddess of time at all.

Somehow, imagining her as a goddess of knights made her more approachable than a goddess of time, but he had to remind himself that she was still a deity nonetheless. He shook his head subtly.

Hylia turned on her heel, a hand to her chin as she hummed thoughtfully. “Okay. So in the past the guardians, divine beasts, a hero and a princess defeated Ganon. They didn’t use the Triforce at all. But that still doesn’t fix the problem. He just keeps getting sealed away.”

Hylia narrowed her eyes at the ground, and her face grew stormy. Link swore he could feel the atmosphere chill at the sight of it.

“Damn that demon,” she swore softly. “Damn him.”

Link swallowed, shifting uncomfortably in place.

Hylia sighed, seeming to remember he was there. “Sorry. We… he just… it’s a lot to take in. I know that you’re looking to me for help. I’ll… we’ll figure it out.”

Figure it out? Did she not know what to do? Hylia herself didn’t know what to do?

Link had so many questions.

"I wonder if Fi still has any of him sealed away in the blade,” Hylia thought aloud, staring at Link. "Or... perhaps since she's drawn... that's the part of him that broke away?"

Fi? Was he supposed to know who that was? Link looked back at her, fear making his palms sweat, wondering if she was expecting a response. Great go—good grief, he sincerely missed the days when the pressure on him was just to fight and destroy, not to provide answers and information.

Hylia stared at him too long, and he felt his mouth go dry. Was he supposed to say something?

“You must be a very good knight,” Hylia commented. “You seem to take your duty very seriously.”

Link’s heart skipped a beat. He felt pride swell in him while simultaneously being crushed down by the expectations behind it. It was an honor, truly, but…

Hylia laughed suddenly, poking him so hard he nearly fell over. “But lighten up a little, Link! I understand this is serious business, but it doesn’t have to be all the time!”

Link gasped as he took a few steps back to catch himself. Hylia’s mirth faded, a worried expression crossing her face.

“There’s just… it’s scary,” she said softly. “And we have to focus and fix this and stuff. I get that. It was like that on my journey too. But… you can’t always be scared. You shouldn’t be. There was so much to enjoy when I was finding my path. I hope… I hope we can do the same, you know?”

“You’re scared?” the words spilled out of his mouth before he could catch them, and he knew, he knew he was going to die right there on the spot. What was he thinking, questioning a goddess—

“Yeah,” Hylia replied immediately. “Yeah, I am. I’m… sorry if that scares you too. But it’s true. I… we… we were supposed to protect you from this. I don’t understand why it didn’t work. Link beat him. I got my spirit back. We won.”

Got her spirit back? What did that mean? And…

Link stared at Hylia, watched her as she hugged herself and looked at the ground, on the verge of tears. She looked so alone.

He couldn’t not do something.

Reaching out, he put a hand on her shoulder, catching her attention, and said, “We’ll figure it out. I promise.”

Hylia held his gaze, and for the millionth time that day he felt like he was going to die on the spot. What the actual hell did I just say oh Golden Three above—

Hylia smiled, eyes shining, and she wrapped him in a tight hug. “Thanks. You’re right. We’ll figure it out.”

Link stood awkwardly in the hug, not really able to return it, but she was squeezing him so tightly he was fairly certainly he’d pop something out of joint if he tried to move anyway. It… felt good, actually.

Well… the goddess had initiated it. So it wasn’t bad, right?

Hylia let him go with a sigh. “I guess I should actually go talk to the princess now. I figure Link’s calmed her down, at least. Maybe you can talk to him?”

Link froze. Oh. Oh, no.

“Come on!” Hylia said with a laugh, dragging him out of the courtyard. “Let’s go find them.”

#I'm still eh about this #but I think it's because I can't fix their relationships in a chapter #and I just need to accept that #they're all stubborn blorbos #writing #breath of the sky #breath of the wild #skyward sword #breath of the wild link #breath of the wild zelda #botw link #botw zelda #skyward sword link #skyward sword zelda #ss link #ss zelda #abel watching hylia hold his son's hand knowing full well she claimed another hero named link in every way possible: *having a heart attack #champion: *also actively having multiple heart attacks*#he really is just Anxiety isn't he poor thing #I swear he has a personality good grief #but someone who is so scared that they actively just choose not to speak or emote in public has got some SERIOUS anxiety issues #just saying #at least zellie finally got her nickname #her and cloud will get along much easier than the links getting along with each other I think #and good old zel breaking the ice with champion #or trying to at least

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stormyoceans · 2 years ago

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oh please please please please talk more about the puentalay kisses bc i am, also, severely insane about them

(the feeling! the physicality! the comfort!! god those are all such great kisses. also hoping for sea to grab onto jimmy too oh yes tho am not sure if the hesitancy before was just him or him portraying talay, we'll see??)

that could be!!!! as a viewer it’s pretty hard to establish if the physicality in a kiss is fully determined by the actor’s performance or if it’s partly due to directing choices, so it’s definitely possible for that hesitancy to be more about talay rather than sea himself, especially since talay isn’t as comfortable with physical touch as puen is, at least at the beginning, while sea himself seems like a very affectionate guy, at least now. i personally feel like both factors may be at play here, which is why im really curious to see how their kisses in last twilight are going to be, since in the mock trailer day is the one to initiate it

AND SINCE IM INSUFFERABLE HERE IS MY PERSONAL ANALYSIS OF THE PUENTALAY KISSES BASED ON AN ASSIGNEMENT I DID FOR MY HISTORY OF FILM CLASS BACK IN UNIVERSITY 10 YEARS AGO

okay so, obviously im far from being an expert, but what i learned while doing my research is that there are 5 elements that directors and acting coaches usually take into account when it comes to kisses. those elements are:

prelude: it’s everything that leads up to the kiss itself, from the story up until that moment, to the emotions of the characters, to the tone of the scene;

look: eye contact is essential when it comes to acting, and even more so when there’s a kissing scene. we love consent, but the truth is that a lot of times the invitation for a kiss is made through the eyes and the emotions you can express through them (needless to say, jimmy is INSANE at this);

breath: it's whether the characters just dive in or if there's some lingering before or after the kiss;

rhythm: it's about the length, the pace, and the technique of the kiss;

surrender: this is what i usually call the physicality of a kiss, because it’s basically the way the bodies respond to each other.

a good director can play with all these elements to give a specific feeling and match the scene itself. that being said, let's start with the kiss where all these elements can't be applied sfjksgfj

the drunk kiss in episode 2. drunk kisses are hard to judge because you are actually supposed to mess up all the things that make a good kiss. if a character is wasted they're hardly gonna be able to communicate emotions through their eyes or have a nice rhythm. in this case there's also not much of a prelude since they've just met, but that's kinda the point: the purpose is to surprise both puen and the audience. i still find it an interesting kiss because of what it tells us about the characters (talay is more open and affectionate when drunk, puen is perplexed but doesn't get angry or push talay away) and i think the fact that it stayed with them for YEARS says a lot about the instant connection they felt between them. i also really appreciate that we get a quick peck first and then a second slightly more purposeful kiss, lips puckered and fully touching.

(hiding the rest under the cut to preserve some kind of dignity)

the greenhouse kiss in episode 4. HERE'S WHERE IM GONNA START LEAVING ANY SEMBLANCE OF SANITY AND COHERENCY BEHIND. im usually not the biggest fan of one-sided/sudden kisses, but this one.... THIS ONE!!!!!! the entire episode is a perfect build up to this moment, engaging the viewers since the very beginning ("so, they will fall in love?" "i guess they will") and raising the (emotional) stakes with each step leading towards it ("why don't we fall in love with each other?", "i talked about the one im hitting on", "feelings aren't something you can toy with"): the second talay steps into the greenhouse and puen comes into view, you can actually FEEL it in the air, that something's gonna happen. then puen grabs talay's arm to stop him from leaving AND THE LOOKS HE THROWS AT TALAY!!!!!! THE WAY HIS EYES SOFTEN WHEN TALAY ASKS HIM "ARE YOU MESSING WITH ME AGAIN?" AND HE ANSWERS "NO"!!!!!!! his intentions are written all over them, so when puen grabs talay's neck and kisses him you're expecting it and yet it still manages to take your breath away. sudden kisses are pretty much the only type where it's kinda acceptable to have a frozen physicality (so arms down the side, body standing still) because it makes sense for the surprise to be freezing the character in place, and while that it's also what happens here, i really like how they were able to somehow still make it feel 'physical': jimmy goes in so strong sea stumbles/has to readjust his position a little, the hold jimmy has on sea's neck is gentle but firm and establishes connection, their lips are fully pressed together, jimmy's nose is almost squished against sea's cheek, and for a sudden kiss their bodies are standing surprisingly close to each other.

the greyllery kiss in episode 8. when i tell you i start FROTHING AT THE MOUTH every time i see just how perfectly they constructed and directed this kiss to parallel the one in the greenhouse…. from puen's adoring look to the way he pulls talay in by grabbing the back of his neck to the camera angles, every detail is built to make the viewers recall the end of episode 4 and give us a visual representation of how much their relationship has grown since then. obviously the mutuality of it is the biggest difference in itself, but there’s also a subtle shift in the physicality to match that: puen gets to wrap both of his arms around talay now, and talay finally reaches back too. this is one of the cases where i do wish sea could have been a bit more confident in grabbing jimmy back, but at the same time i think the hesitancy makes sense for talay as a character, so it's not a detail that pulls you out of the moment and everything else is just PERFECT. the prelude to the kiss in particular is incredible, not only because of the confession itself, which would deserve its own analysis even just for how it happens when the lights are out, highlighting the fact that they love each other for who they are, no matter which body they're inhabiting, but also because the tension gets progressively built up beat by beat until you find yourself on the edge of your sit holding your breath just waiting for it to happen: i said i like you, beat, i like you even though i don't know what you look like, beat, even though i don't know who you are, beat, i like you too, beat, i like everything about you, beat, puen dropping his bag, beat, and when puen takes an audible breath in before stepping forward, that's when you can finally release your own. this is also the first kiss where we can judge the rhythm, and i personally think that jimmy and sea have a very good sense of it in all of their kisses. it's kinda hard to explain why, but it's in the way they can pace the kiss, and mirror each other's intensity, and switch the side their head turns while doing it. last thing im gonna say (because this is already getting way too long ;;;;) is that letting the sounds of the kiss be heard under the background music sure was. A CHOICE.

the bucket hat kiss in episode 9. [RATTLES THE BARS OF HER CAGE] DOCTOR JIMMY THE THINGS YOU DO WITH YOUR EYES!!!!!!!!! in this case the kiss itself is pretty short so it can't be judged on more technical aspects, however it does not leave the viewers wanting for more, because the emotions behind it already say everything we need to know. the adoration the longing the want the reverence the wonder the love.... it's all written in the way puen looks at talay. the camera focuses way more on puen here because the revelation of who talay is is, quite literally, life changing for him, but the lingering on talay's eyes after they part and the two of them remaining close to each other as if they can't bring themselves to move on tell us how this kiss functions as a seal for the many promises made between them: of going back together, of finding each other again, of their mutual feelings. also i can't really figure out if this is a jimmy thing or a conscious directing choice, but when it comes to physicality i LOVE how puen always has his hand or his arm around talay's neck. it's such a protective and possessive gesture which is meant to send a clear message, not to other people, but to the universe: this is the man i love, it says, and im not gonna let you take him away from me.

the bathtub kiss in episode 10. i feel so normal about this kiss it's honestly insane how normal and hinged and sane and fine i feel about it. like not to be petty but i have no idea HOW can anyone watch this and then really say that jimmysea can't kiss, especially considering it hits EVERY SINGLE POINT of what a good kiss should be like. the simple intimacy of taking a bath together, the shared joy of their success, and the teasing of the reward are all perfect set ups for this kiss, and as always jimmy has the insane ability to broadcast puen's intentions through his eyes in a way few other actors can, however what makes this kiss really stand out compared to the rest are the breath and the physicality of it. when it comes to kissing talay, puen is always diving into it like a starving man, and this time is no different, but unlike all the other times there is a pause in the kiss and you can actually see how much it costs them to separate: they both look like they're getting out of a trance, breaths mingling together as puen keeps his eyes closed for a little longer to pull himself together and talay blindly chases his lips for more, confused by the sudden interruption. this temporary pause doesn't break the actual rhythm of the kiss, nor it pulls the viewers out of the moment, because it's clear that they're both still very much into it. i will never stop praising jimmy and sea for being able to portray just how overwhelmed the characters are here, both from the kiss and the feelings they have for each other, and it also shows in the way they almost sound choked up as they thank each other. the kiss picking up from where they left it is the only natural continuation to all these emotions bubbling to the surface, emotions that are way too big to put into words, so they rely on their bodies to try to convey them. and speaking of bodies, this kiss is the perfect example of why physicality is also called 'surrender', you just need to look at the openness and vulnerability of talay's neck in that position, but even when sea shifts a little into a more comfortable one you can see how their body fit together and melt into each other perfectly. honestly the only thing that could have possibly made this kiss better was to have jimmy hold sea's face for a bit longer instead of moving his arm on the side of the bathtub, but frankly im just nitpicking here (monica aren't you forgetting something, one may ask. and to that i say YEAH YEAH THE TONGUE SLIP WE'VE ALL SEEN IT. NO I REFUSE TO COMMENT ON IT BYE)

the riverbank kiss in episode 10. as much as i love this whole scene, this kiss in particular is sadly not my favorite one, mostly because i think the editing and the camera angles did a bit of a disservice to it. i really like how it starts: all puentalay kisses have very strong preludes because they always serve a purpose to the story, they're never gratuitous (in this case it's meant to be a confirmation of puen's words and an omen of what's to come), and jimmysea can both convey so much with their eyes that you can actually feel how they're pulling each other (and the viewers) in to the kiss by the looks they share. it's when the camera moves from their faces to go above and then behind them that i feel like it ends up taking you out of the moment they worked so hard to build, because it completely blocks the view of the kiss in a very jarring way, and when it gets in front of them again talay's arm is suddenly reaching up to puen, which it wasn't in the previous frame. it's such a pity because i LOVE that connection, it's the kind of physicality that can turn a good kiss to a great one, so i do wish we could have gotten more continuity and a more direct view.

the reunion kiss in episode 11. it may come as a surprise, but i actually don’t have a lot to say about this kiss, mainly because i believe any technical analysis becomes pointless in the face of the journey that led them to this moment. this is their first kiss after being reunited, and if this were any other show, i feel like it would have made a big deal out of this also being their first kiss in their real bodies, but the love between puen and talay has never been about physical appearance, and we're reminded of that once again. this kiss is the meeting of two souls who have missed each other and find comfort in being together again, and i don't think it's a coincidence that this is the one time they are fully facing each other, with puen mirroring talay's crosslegged position on the bed. “from this moment on, it’s me and you,” talay is gonna say in the next episode, “talay and puen,” and i think this kiss perfectly represent these words. i guess i do wish, once again, that sea were holding jimmy back in some way, even just by grabbing his arm, but like with the greyllery kiss i think it does work character-wise, because while this is a comforting moment for both of them, talay is the one who needs more reassurance, who needs to know that puen isn’t gonna leave him, and all the gestures puen does (the forehead kiss, the handholding, the protective hold he has on talay while they kiss) are his way to prove to talay, other than with words, that this isn’t a dream: it’s real, they’re both real, and now that they’re finally home and together, he’s never gonna let anything separate them again.

the boyfriends kiss in episode 12. what's better than a kiss in the same place the universe separated you as a way to seal the deal on your new-found and hard-fought boyfriend status? NOTHING THAT'S WHAT. i do think, however, that this kiss kinda leaves you wanting for more. it's not a short deep one like the bucket hat kiss, but it's also not a full make out session like many of the others, and since they don't have the time to build a nice rhythm it feels like the kiss ends before it even gets a chance to start. this is also one of the times where i wish sea were touching jimmy back in some way, or that his body were lining more towards him, because physicality wise it makes him seem a bit less engaged in the moment. despite these details im still pretty fond of this kiss, mostly because the utter adoration in both puen's and talay's eyes before it makes up for A LOT in my book. also it's not really related to the kiss itself but i love the dark/light contrast in their clothes.

the foggy glasses kiss in episode 12. GAME CHANGING LIFE ALTERING MIND BLOWING. A CULTURAL RESET. we've all read about kisses that leave a character breathless, lightheaded and weak at the knees, maybe even got to experience some ourselves in our life, and i honestly can't think about any other kiss in television history that was able to perfectly represent that feeling more than this one. from talay's dazed expression, to his foggy glasses, to his messy hair because of puen's fingers running through it, you can actually believe this kiss affected him to such an extent. and how could it not affect him when the rhythm and physicality of it are INSANE???? the way puen is holding talay's head with BOTH OF HIS HANDS to keep talay in place barely gives talay any time to take breath and they're so close and entangled in each other that you can barely tell where one starts and the other ends. i love the wider camera shots of this kiss because, as i mentioned before, you once again get to see why physicality is defined as surrender: it looks like their bodies are almost melting into each other. it's not even their longest kiss, but the tension and the intensity are off the charts in every part of it. the single-minded purpose with which puen approaches talay at the beginning, eyes firmly on talay's face, never wandering from it, already lets you know just how wild this kiss is about to be, and you can't expect anything less from it after getting to see talay confessing to puen for the third time in five episodes. i also find it very telling that both the show and the our skyy episodes end on such great kisses, they feel like the testament of their love and the proof of how far they've come.

the beach kiss in our skyy. ONE KISS TO RULE THEM ALL ONE KISS TO REMEMBER THEM ONE KISS TO HONOR THEM ALL AND IN FRONT OF THE OCEAN BIND THEM. so anyway bad jokes (and quotes) aside, this kiss does feel like a sum of all their previews ones, maybe because there are elements in it that tend to remind the viewers of a lot of them: the drunk kiss being used as a set up for it, the framing of puen's face at the beginning being the same as the greenhouse and the greyllery ones, puen's smile before pulling talay into it being a little nudge to the bathtub kiss, their position almost mirroring the boyfriends one...... not to mention that it's hard to look at the ocean and not be reminded of other important moments in their journey, like the two of them promising to find each other again in their universe on the secret island and talay having to wait for the tide to retreat to go back to puen. the ocean of is also the place where talay drowned and everything began, so it only makes sense for their story to end in front of it too. the cycle closes with a recollection of the past and a promise for the future, the kiss itself, the mouthed "i love you" and the forehead touch letting us know that no matter what's gonna happen, they will always love each other like the very first day. much like with the reunion one, i think any technical aspect of this kiss becomes of very little importance when you're faced with the whole entire everything of their history together being contained in it, but let me just say, what a difference sea's arm casually draped over jimmy's legs makes!!!!! compared to the boyfriends kiss, you can see how the extra physical connection makes both of them look fully invested in the kiss and makes the viewers feel more involved in it too. as always the rhythm of the kiss is really good, and this time sea is the one who really shines when it comes to the look, because he's just radiating adoration love and pure unadulterated joy everywhere. not that jimmy isn't giving insane levels of emotions too, but im gonna end this mess with something deeply controversial: i know the fandom likes their long hair, but jimmy's bangs end up covering his eyes way too much and that is A CRIME.

#MENTAL ILLNESS WON TODAY PT. 2 #I HAVEN'T REREAD ANY PART OF IT AND IM FRANKLY TOO EMBARRASSED TO DO IT #the fact that i feel like i haven't said half of the things there are to be said about all these kisses......#anyway it's been nice knowing y'all im gonna go bury myself in my backyard now goodbye forever #vice versa #puentalay #m: ask #vish 💜

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adhd-merlin · 1 year ago

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#least fave is 4x09 arthur physically threatening gwen #just horrendously ooc

sorry @freylins I just!! have feelings about this scene in particular. and, unfortunately, thoughts. in my tag for episode 4x09 (I rarely use episode tags btw) you can see me going "I love this scene. what a great scene. why are there no gifs of this scene" multiple times lol. I might reformulate some of my previous tags into a more coherent (?) post.

I can see why many people wouldn't love this moment; chances are you're either someone who doesn't care about arthur/gwen that much, in which case you'd be sitting there thinking "can we go back to arthur & merlin please", or you DO care about arthur and gwen, and it's an uncomfortable scene to watch if you do.

but! I love drama and angst and emotional suffering (IN FICTION)

personally I don't find it ooc for arthur (or if it is, it's justified — I'll get into this later). it's true, in normal circumstances he would never. but these are hardly normal circumstances, and him shaking gwen like that really underlines how besides himself he was feeling.

it's true that arthur often loses his patience with merlin (shouting, throwing objects) but it's usually over petty stuff. he's actually remarkably calm under pressure when the situation calls for it.

so it's not often that we seem him COMPLETELY lose his cool in such a way — the only comparable scene, in my opinion, is the one in which he challenges uther to a duel in ep 2x08, after learning from morgause that his mother died because of uther, and uther has been lying to him about it all his life.

and both that moment and gwen's cheating are betrayals of MASSIVE proportions. literally world-shaking revelations, and it's about two people arthur loves more than anything.

I don't think it's strange for him not to be thinking straight when he confronts uther (2x08) and gwen (4x09) — he's only human.

in gwen's case — he found her kissing lancelot, her former love and his former most loyal knight, literally the night before they were to be married. this is the woman of which arthur famously* said "if I lose her, I lose everything" (!!)

which of course would make him question everything. up to that point he had been so sure of gwen's love for him, but what if he was just deluding himself.

and he had to fight to make gwen queen, remember — against the opinion of the court, and probably his own prejudice. I find it interesting how he remarks "do you know what they're saying?" when facing gwen, pointing at the door, because arthur has grown up under the eyes of the court, and he's not stupid.

here he's telling gwen that in his father's day she'd be put to death, but one can imagine that is not all the councilmen have been saying. agravaine was lecturing him about the appropriateness of his love match only a few episodes prior; surely someone told arthur (or heavily implied it) that gwen might not love him after all. that she might just be in it for the wealth and the power, and not because she holds any real affection for him.

which adds another layer of hurt — it's not just about having his heart broken, he's also been made to look like a fool in front of everyone. and although it might not be arthur's most pressing concern here, he is sensitive about losing face (in front of his father, when uther was still alive; in front of agravaine and his councilmen now). he has to be, in his position, how could he not?

arthur has been defending his choice of gwen as a consort the whole time based on the fact that they loved one another, and now he's just witnessed her kiss lancelot. his whole world is crumbling.

you can see how hard he's trying to keep himself together when he faces gwen again. he's had a night to think things over and he's still so badly shaken.

and even so, I think (I'm sure plenty will disagree, given he does banish gwen in the end, but anyway) I think you can still tell how much arthur loves gwen, even now, even underneath his fury. because the first thing he asks her — when he can find in himself the strength to actually look at her — is "what happened, guinevere?"

and in that moment there is no anger in his tone — he's sad, defeated, confused, but he's genuinely just trying to understand what happened to them. what he might have done wrong, what he might have missed. and to me that's such an arthur thing to do.

and yes, it's true that he loses his temper and ends up shaking gwen and shouting in her face, which is unlike him. but characters acting uncharacteristically for a reason isn't bad writing. real people do it too. a character behaving in a way he normally wouldn't can be significant, and I think it is here.

because arthur has just lost everything. he's trying to understand why and the only person who could answer him has no answer to give :(

(he also apologises immediately and tries to get himself under control again. even banishing gwen is more about needing her as far away from him as possible than about making her suffer. it's not done out of viciousness. I mean, yes, it's also a punishment, but only because one was required. but he tells gwen he's sorry about it and he seems to mean it.)

sorry, I just think it's a very well written emotional scene (even counting that "I don't want to see you dead... but I don't want to see you", a line so predictable I literally finished it with bradley the first time I watched the episode), and it's so well acted, and it deserves more love. but I understand why it doesn't get much.

(btw I'm not trying to convince anyone to like this scene nor I expect everyone to agree with all I wrote here, I'm just saying why I personally like it.)

______________

*to me

Question for everyone: what is your favourite and least favourite moment in Merlin?

#triggered into writing an essay about the banishment scene AGAIN #sorry these are probably quite banal thoughts. BUT I HAVE MANY.#i'm 100% sure i once reblogged a post and rambled about this scene in the tags #but i can't find it now. i can't always navigate the maze I lied #about arthur losing his temper – i think another minor example is in ep 5x06 #when he and the knights are trying to get to the dark tower and walking in circles in the forest #and when he realises it arthur shouts “we've wasted an entire day!!” & throws his sword in the ground in frustration #and everyone looks vaguely uncomfortable #which I like to think is bc it's very unlike arthur and not just because they're uncomfortable with his display of emotional distress #“if I lose her I lose everything.” I think about this line a normal amount #anyway #merlin meta #ramblings #ep 4x09 #the banishment scene

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dessarious · 2 years ago

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What Comes After Pt4

Beginning Previous Next

Chloe knocked on the door and heard a quiet ‘come in’. When she walked into the room, she found Mari sitting on the floor with an ornate box in her lap. The patterns on it were familiar enough to make her gasp.

"Close the door, please." Chloe did as she asked on auto pilot. She couldn't stop staring at the box, and she couldn't manage any coherent thoughts. At least not until Mari's broken tone snapped her out of it. "I can't do this by myself."

"Oh Mari." Chloe rushed over to sit next to her and pull her into a hug. Mari burrowed into her side, but didn't say anything. She didn't cry either. As far as Chloe knew, she hadn't since her parents died. It worried her that she wouldn't grieve properly. "I'll do whatever you need me to, but... is that what I think it is?"

"Yes." There was a long pause and Chloe could feel Mari trying to control her breathing. "I'm the Guardian and... I was Ladybug." She started out strong but ended in almost a whisper. Chloe could swear that a wall in her mind just collapsed. All the similarities and coincidences melded together, making her wonder how she didn't know. How anyone didn't know.

"I'm so sorry." She hugged the girl tighter and held back tears. "How can you even stand to be near me after everything I've put you through?" She was bad enough to Mari, but to Ladybug... she'd been nothing but a nightmare until that Akuma forced her to open her eyes.

"You aren't the only one that regrets their decisions. I made a lot of mistakes with you I'd like to take back. Not to mention you actually learned from the things you went through. Not like most of the others." Chloe winced at that. Watching the class turn on Lila would have been amusing if it hadn't shown even more of their true colors. The lengths some of them were willing to go to was disturbing. Honestly, Lila was lucky the police came to get her when they did.

"Still... I don't see how you can trust me at all after all that." Mari just leaned into her more.

"People change. You changed for the better, and when I needed you the most, you were there. And trust needs to be fluid. I trusted Ad- Chat in the beginning, and I was right to then, but my trust didn't falter when it should have and look at what it cost."

"It is not your fault that the spineless wonder decided to put his wants above the wellbeing of everyone else. You see the good in people, and that's not a bad thing."

"Until it is." She wanted to argue, but she couldn't. Partly because she couldn't find the words, but mostly because she wouldn't mitigate Mari's pain that way. The way she saw it, everyone she loved died because she saw the best in her worthless partner. Chloe didn't know how to make her realize that was skewed logic. "I need to talk to some of the Kwami to see if Batman is right. You'll stay with me, right?"

"Of course." Mari didn't move right away, and Chloe just waited. She couldn't even imagine how hard this must be for her. Eventually, Mari opened the box, but that was it. They just stared at the innocuous looking pieces of jewelry. Even knowing the power they held, Chloe felt underwhelmed. She had to wonder if it was a way they protected themselves. Mari reached out a hand, hovering over various ones, but not touching. She actually flinched as she passed over the Ladybug earrings. In the end, she picked three. The Butterfly, the Turtle, and the Cat.

Chloe wanted badly to question her choice, but kept her mouth shut. As soon as the Kwami appeared, they rushed Mari to hug her. Plagg's purring was strong enough that Chloe could feel the vibrations. She didn't know how long they stayed like that before Mari spoke.

"I'm sorry." The purring stopped. Plagg flew up to make sure they were in Mari's sight line.

"What do you think you have to apologize for?" The Kwami sounded mostly curious, but to Chloe, there seemed to be an undercurrent of rage.

"For not stopping what happened."

"What happened wasn't your fault. If you want to place blame anywhere other than Gabriel and Adrien," Mari flinched at the names. "then you should place it on me." Mari immediately reached for the Kwami.

"Oh, Plagg, no. You couldn't have known what was going on." The creature just gave her a droll look.

"If I had bothered to pay attention, at all, I would have seen him slipping. If I'd ever once bothered to search that house, I would have found all the proof you needed. My apathy was far more at fault for what happened than you were. And I'm sorry for not stepping in when Tikki complained about the way he was treating you. I thought she was overreacting because of how fond she is of you." Plagg refused to meet Mari's gaze and the girl finally grabbed them to pull them into her chest for a hug. "You really should talk to Tikki. They're worried about you."

Mari didn't respond, and Plagg went back to purring. Chloe just tried to be as steady a presence as she could, given she really had no idea what had happened between Mari and the Kwami. Eventually, Wayzz spoke.

"You must have had a reason to summon us, Guardian. How may we help you?" Mari took a deep breath before answering.

"Magic users in the Justice League seem to be under the impression that a balanced Ladybug and Cat pair need to be active to combat whatever imbalance Chat and I caused. Is that true?" Plagg growled.

"He caused it, not you. Why are you talking to the Justice League in the first place after the crap they pulled?" Mari curled in on herself, so Chloe answered.

"We're in Gotham for school and Batman seems to feel it's necessary to stalk us. His girlfriend is on our side though, so that's a plus." The Kwami gave an amused snort. Wayzz ended up being the one to actually answer Mari's question.

"They are right that the imbalance should be fixed, and that is one way to do it. Though it seems like they're making it far more urgent than it is."

"What are the other ways?" Mari sounded relieved, and all the Kwami were eyeing her oddly.

"The simplest would be going back to Paris yourself and using your powers as Guardian to realign the proper energies." Yeah, that wasn't happening. Mari tensed up and seemed close to a panic attack just from the idea. "A balanced pair wielding Creation and Destruction would be next. Lastly, a unified group wielding the Fox, Turtle, Bee, Butterfly, and Peafowl Miraculous. It would have to be five separate holders, so you couldn't do it yourself." Chloe wasn't certain what the warning in his tone meant, but Mari looked sheepish. That was a story for later.

"I don't know if I can trust four or five people, and you all told me that there wasn't anyone who could properly balance me as Ladybug." The three Kwami exchanged looks, but it was Nooroo who spoke.

"That is still true. You'd need to find other holders. Though it feels like you have a suitable candidate on the grounds that could wield the Ladybug if you became Plagg's holder." Mari blinked at them, and Nooroo flew over to the window. Mari slowly followed, Chloe right behind her. They looked out to see the Sirens still talking in the gazebo. "The green one creates things to destroy with the same energy you destroy things to create. It is a good balance."

"I really don't think that's a good idea." Chloe agreed, but had to wonder if Mari was more worried about the Sirens, or having the Miraculous active again.

"She could surprise you, and as you said, there's not enough people to give the other's to unless you want to involve the Sirens in that plan." All the Kwami frowned at her and Chloe had the distinct impression they would prefer she keep her mouth shut.

"It might be safer to do that than risk the Ladybug holder turning on the Cat this time. I don't even want to think of the damage that would do." Mari was frowning down at the women. "You would take the Bee, and I can take the Butterfly. Selina would suit the Fox, Harley the Peafowl, and Ivy the Turtle." Plagg and Wayzz floated over to the window as well.

"Well, you're right about the pairings. But will they be willing to work with you? This entire thing hinges on a unified team." Wayzz seemed to be trying to push Mari away from the idea, but Chloe wasn't certain why.

"Honestly, as long as they have fun doing it, they'll probably be on board. If we agree to mess with the Bats and maybe being a bit more aggressive with some of the more violent rogues they'll probably agree to whatever you want." And the Kwami were glaring at her again. What the hell? Mari caught it this time.

"Why do you want the Ladybug and Black Cat active so badly? You said it wasn't necessary." Nooroo looked guilty, but Plagg and Wayzz shared a look.

"It's not for the balance, but it is for you. Avoiding what happened won't change the past and you need to be able to do what's necessary in the future." Plagg seemed to be going for reassuring, but it came off more than a little condescending. Mari bristled.

"You think I don't know that? You think that I'm in denial over what happened? Do you think I would have pulled you out at all if I wasn't willing to move past my own pain to fix this problem? I'm not avoiding the Ladybug Miraculous over some misguided fear. I just don't think it's the best option and none of you have done anything to prove me wrong. Either do so, or stop trying to force my hand for no reason other than your less than stellar mental diagnostic abilities." Mari was yelling by the end and the Kwami just looked stunned. As much as Chloe agreed with her, she wasn't certain screaming at a group of tiny gods was the best way to get out her frustration. Mari let out a sigh before dropping back to the floor.

"So you're not going to talk to Tikki." Plagg sounded annoyed and disappointed. Mari renounced them and put the ring back in the box. Wayzz didn't seem to know what to do, but Nooroo flew over to perch on one of Mari's knees.

"We should not have behaved so disrespectfully. You have the right to make your own choices and we should just give you the information you need to do so. We're worried about you."

"I understand that, but pushing me into things that aren't necessary and I'm not ready for isn't going to help me. I'll do what's necessary, but I'm not ready to relive what happened, and this is the best option right now." Nooroo just nodded.

"I would think going back to Paris would be the best option." Chloe winced at Wayzz's observation. Technically, he was right. However, it wasn't worth the mental breakdown Mari would have if she went back.

"It would be if there was anyway I could go back there, with the Miraculous, and be sure I wouldn't break and do exactly what Gabriel planned to do." She said it so matter-of-factly that Chloe could only stare at her. The Kwami weren't much better. She shook herself out of her daze to drop down and pull Mari back into a hug.

"You won't be alone this time. I'm with you no matter what you decide to do. Granted, I'm hoping for finding the Bat Cave and blowing it up, but I can roll with whatever." Mari let out a snort before devolving into giggles.

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Tag List @ladybug-182 @transheso @scorchdragon88 @jayjayspixiepop @frieddonutsweets @mizzy-pop @boardgamer88 @smolplantmum @unoriginalmess @craftgremlin @jayphoenic @jeminiikrystal @tank3335 @pale-lady-dreamer @sassakitty @aespades

#maribat #marinette dupain cheng #chloe bourgeois #kwami #mari knows herself well enough to know she will fuck shit up

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taexual · 3 years ago

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STRAY KIDS / they regret losing you

warning: angst angst angst (some of these are more hopeful than others, but still. angst) and also strong language

requested by anonymous.

↣ chan

Yours was the typical “it’s not you, it’s me” break-up, with Chan taking full blame for it. He used a lot of long sentences when he gave you that final speech, claiming he wasn’t in the right place for a serious relationship, he was too busy to dedicate as much time for you as you deserved, and so on.

Nevermind that he seemed to be in the right place for two years before the break-up.

In his defense, he really did look broken-hearted when he left you that last time. But, then again, you couldn’t exactly heal faster because of that. If he really loved you as much as he claimed, he would have fought for it.

And Chan came to this exact same conclusion. Most unfortunately, it was only three months later.

Needless to say, by that time, it was already too late. But because the tear in his heart continued to deepen each time he heard someone mention your name, he had to do something. Calling didn’t seem like enough, so he went to your house.

He thought pressing the doorbell would be the hardest thing he’d have to do that day – he’d rehearsed what he’d say, so he wasn’t too worried about that. But then a guy he’d never met opened the door of your house.

And, turns out, the most difficult thing Chan had to do that day, was to will his legs to move, so he could turn around and leave.

He would learn later that the guy was just a friend – one of many who were over at your house that day – but, by that time, he’d already convinced himself that he’d missed his chance. If there ever even was a chance to begin with.

Because of this, when you drunkenly called Chan a few weeks later, asking him to pick you up – a rudimentary habit, nothing more – he politely informed you that he would pick you up if you really needed him to, but he didn’t want to make this uncomfortable because you were no longer together.

He thought you’d forgotten the break-up – he did too, sometimes – but you groaned into the phone and told him, surprisingly coherently, “I miss you and I want to see you. Can you please come pick me up?”

You probably weren’t even going to remember this tomorrow. But he would have died before he missed the opportunity to show up when you needed him, at the odd possibility that this was the mythical chance he’d been waiting for. If not, then at least he would get to see you—and take you home—one more time.

↣ lee know

He was standing at a party, staring at the crowd of people in front of him – but not really seeing them – when he realised, ironically, how alone he felt. Almost automatically, his hand reached for his phone to send you a text, but then, with his heart sinking, he realised he couldn’t do that anymore.

You’d been the only reason why he survived these social gatherings without getting drunk or starting a fight with someone – tonight, it was likely going to be the guy who kept “accidentally” bumping into him as he attempted—very poorly—to dance to the music that was playing.

Minho couldn’t send you pictures of people doing dumb things at the party anymore, and he couldn’t laugh at your witty responses, either. He didn’t even think he had any right to feel sad over this; he was the one who broke up with you. And he had the audacity to only regret it when he realised that not having you anymore inconvenienced him.

But that wasn’t true. At least, not entirely. He was always inconvenienced without you.

Whenever something exciting happened, you were the first person he wanted to tell. Whenever he was in pain, you were the one he wanted to call. Whenever he saw someone who looked like you, he thought he would suffocate if he didn’t approach you, talk to you. But that person wasn’t you. It was never you.

The realisation that he hadn’t seen you in over two months now, felt like a punch in the stomach, and Minho had to put his paper cup down as he hunched over – seemingly in actual, physical pain – and closed his eyes.

“Fuck,” he muttered quietly. Automatically, his body began to generate ideas to get rid of this excruciating sensation: take a pill? Lie down? Call you?

Straightening up again, he inhaled sharply and headed towards the front door, barely remembering to grab his coat on the way.

He bumped into Hyunjin as he was leaving the room and nearly knocked him off his feet in his haste.

“Hey—oh, whoa,” the younger boy grabbed his arm. “Where are you going?”

Minho shook his arm out of his grip and excused himself quickly, breathlessly, hopefully, “I have a call to make.”

↣ changbin

In a twist that neither of you expected, the reason why you broke up was your friends. More specifically, it was the wretched—but good-natured—attitude that “you deserve better than this” that brought the end of your relationship.

Obviously, nor you, nor Changbin were perfect when it came to dating. But both of you tried your best; and, in retrospective, it was unfair how this flew over your friends’ heads entirely. What they emphasized – endlessly – was how Changbin never prioritized you, always working and making plans with others first, and how you never showed that you cared, always resisting to exhibit any form of vulnerability.

Changbin felt like your friends were more right than his – you did deserve better. But he wasn’t so sure that he did, too. If this break-up was supposed to be a good thing for him, then he would have felt relieved. Or hopeful, at least.

Now he just felt broken and miserable.

He missed you every day, but no plan of action that he could come up with seemed like enough to get you back. He thought he’d really messed it up.

His insecurities and just plain fear that you’ll close the door in his face, was the reason why, nearly a month after your break-up, it was Jisung who called you, not Changbin.

“You have to come over,” Jisung told you. “He’s a mess without you.”

You responded easily enough. “I can’t.”

“You have to,” he repeated. “I’m scared for him. I know I’m probably part of the reason why you’re no longer together, and I’m not afraid to admit that—well, I was wrong. Really wrong. He needs you.”

“Why didn’t he call?” you asked then, your voice cracking right when you needed it to be strong the most.

“He can’t even get out of bed,” Jisung said. “I don’t know when was the last time he picked his phone up. This was never supposed to happen. Please come, even if it’s just for a minute. Even if you just say hi and leave. None of us will force you to stay, but we—we really need you to come. You’re the only one he will talk to.”

↣ hyunjin

Despite knowing that splitting up was the best thing to do – however paradoxical that seemed, given how much pain you two were in after the break-up – neither of you really accepted it. And, truth be told, Hyunjin actually expected this break-up to really only be a break. A minor hiccup before you eventually got back together.

Cruelly, that was not what happened at all.

When Hyunjin saw you in the city three weeks later, you looked good. Granted, you always looked good, but you seemed to be especially glowing now, and it hurt all the more because he could no longer approach you from behind, cover your eyes with his hands, and whisper in your ear, “guess who?”

He was about to call out your name and wave – without really thinking why – but then he stopped short, forcing someone to walk right into him and curse quietly. He remained frozen.

There was someone with you. A guy. He seemed your age. You didn’t appear to be exactly comfortable around the guy – at least, not as comfortable as you used to be with him – but Hyunjin figured this could have been a first date. Or perhaps this wasn’t even a date at all, maybe this was just someone—

No. He had no right to be analyzing who you were with. This wasn’t his place, it never was – that was partially the reason why you broke up. He seemed to care more about your company than about you, and, clearly – since he couldn’t tear his eyes away from your friend – that hasn’t changed much.

Swallowing the painful lump in his throat, Hyunjin turned away. He would have to go shopping some other day. Or never.

But when he got home, he couldn’t get the sight of you with someone else out of his mind. Despite knowing better, he still picked up his phone and sent you a subtle—well, that’s what he thought—text.

“Saw you in town today,” his text read, excluding the abundance of—subtle—happy emojis. “You looked really good.”

When you responded a minute later, his heart nearly burst. But when your text simply said, “thanks”, his chest suddenly felt void.

It was just one word, and yet that one word was exactly what it took for him to finally understand that this was not a break. This was the end.

↣ han

He did so much for your relationship when you first started to go out, and maybe that set unrealistic expectations. Or maybe it was just basic human decency to send your partner at least one text per week – so they would know you were alive – no matter how long you’ve been together. Either way, towards the end of your relationship, Jisung didn’t even manage that.

And yet the break-up caught him off-guard. He felt angry, even. What was the point to date for so long, if you were just going to break up with him for no reason?!

But there was a reason. And he only saw it several months later when, after checking his phone for the tenth time that night, he realised that he wasn’t sure whose message he was waiting for. He didn’t really care about anyone else, and it dawned on him that he was never going to see another text from you: you wouldn’t check in, ask him if he’d had dinner yet, send him a picture of something funny you saw, or wish him a good night.

And that was his fault because, before tonight, he never really considered how often he responded to you when you were still together. The truth was – he barely did.

The celebratory dinner Jisung was having with the boys suddenly seemed to lose all meaning.

Alarmed to see his friends go a few shades paler, Changbin leaned over to ask tentatively, “you okay?”

Looking at him with wide eyes, Jisung swallowed before lowering his head in what was meant to be a nod. “Yeah, I, uh—I just realised I’m single.”

“Have been for a while,” Changbin said, growing more concerned. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Jisung felt like he’d lost his grip on reality – like the earth continued to spin, but he was no longer holding onto anything to keep him in place – so he needed a minute to be able to say that he was fine, and make it sound convincing.

But he didn’t get a minute, because Chan turned to look at him, too; he had a sixth sense about this sort of things.

“I,” Jisung spoke, ending the sentence prematurely because the lights of the restaurant were blinding him and he couldn’t inhale anymore. Perhaps he was staring to panic. “I think there’s something I need to fix.”

Changbin placed his hand on his shoulder. “You need to breathe. And maybe have a sip of water. Do you want to—?”

“I have to go,” Jisung said, pushing his chair back instead of doing anything that his friend just said.

“Hey, hold on,” Chan, sitting on the other side of him, was the one who grabbed his wrist before he could stand up and leave. “If you’re talking about your relationship, then it—you might be too late.”

Chan shot Changbin a look – wordlessly asking the younger boy to take over and explain. Changbin frowned, not wanting to be the one who told Jisung this, either. But he had to relent eventually, because Jisung still looked like a deer caught in the headlights – frozen in horror, but ready to bolt at any moment.

“I—we heard from a mutual friend,” Changbin spoke, “that someone set her up on a blind date. This was about a week ago. I heard they’re supposed to meet again soon.”

Frantic, Jisung asked. “When?”

The question alarmed both boys on either side of Jisung as they exchanged a yet another worried look. They knew this situation would have been much worse if you were the one telling him that you were slowly starting to see someone else.

“I don’t know,” Changbin replied. “Why do you—”

“You’re not going to burst in there and ruin her date,” Chan took over before the other boy could ask a question that only provoked Jisung further. “Let her be happy. It’s been too long.”

A loaded minute passed before Jisung responded.

“No, I know that,” he said, the terror slowly disappearing from his eyes, replaced instead by misery. “You’re right.”

It hurt impossibly much to know that you were going to be happy, and he wasn’t going to be a part of that. Not anymore.

↣ felix

You’d tried your best to make this easier for him – you listened to him talk about his day at 3 AM when he returned home, and brought snacks and drinks to the studio when he was working late – and it eventually ended up becoming the reason why he broke up with you. He couldn’t live with himself knowing how hard you were working on this relationship, while he couldn’t do the same. It wasn’t fair.

But now, as he walked home, too exhausted to avoid the puddles of last night’s rain – his sneakers completely soaked – he wished for nothing more than to ring your doorbell, and see your face again.

He didn’t even realise he missed the turn to the dorms, and headed towards your apartment instead. When he caught himself outside of your building, it already seemed too late to go back. Even more so when your elderly neighbor walked out the front door and her face lit up at the sight of him.

“I haven’t seen you in a while!” she said. “I was worried something might have happened. Go on in, she just got home. She must be waiting for you.”

Felix knew better than to wish that was true. But he had no time to come up with an excuse because the grandma nodded her head towards the door again, standing still and waiting for him to go in; he felt awful making her stand here in the cold.

“Thank you,” was all he said as he slipped inside and closed the door after him.

Hesitantly, he walked towards the elevator. It opened as soon as he approached – his heart picked up speed; everything seemed to be going his way – and he stepped in, pressing the button with the number of your floor on it.

But when he got off on your floor and approached your door, ready to knock, he heard your voice inside, and stopped short. You must have been in the hallway of your apartment, and it sounded like you were on the phone.

“Are you in a tunnel? I can’t hear you very well,” you were saying. Felix decided to wait – not to eavesdrop, but to be polite – until you finished your call. “I told you I’m home. No, I’m not going out. He was okay, I only met him for the first time today. But I just—I don’t know. I’m not interested. Oh, would you forget about Felix? I thought I asked you not to mention him to me again.”

His stomach twisted and turned inside out when he heard his own name. He didn’t know which punch was more painful: the one where you said you just went on a date with someone else today, or the one where you said you didn’t want to hear from him again.

Either way, bruised and in pain, Felix decided not to ring your doorbell, after all. He had no right to do that anymore. It would be better if you never knew he was here at all.

↣ seungmin

You both had insecurities about the relationship, and they really came into play when you couldn’t see each other often. It was almost inevitable that you broke up.

He wasn’t sure if that was supposed to make him feel better, though. He had felt burdened and scared when he was dating you, but that seemed to be nothing in comparison to the heavy weight in his chest now that you were no longer together.

He was starting to think that perhaps breaking up with you had been the coward’s way out. Sure, relationships weren’t easy, they required a significant amount of time and dedication, and learning. But, at the end of the day, it was all worth it, because he had you with him.

Now Seungmin felt even worse than he did in the relationship, and, on top of that, you weren’t there to make it better. He was alone. Even sitting in the corner of the practice room while the other boys fooled around, he was alone.

“We’re going out for some ice cream,” Felix called out from the doorway. “You coming?”

Seungmin only shook his head.

“Okay, so what kind should we get you, then?” the other boy asked.

Seungmin shook his head again. Deciding that this response wouldn’t do, Felix nodded his head at the other boys and told them to go ahead, while he returned back to the practice room and sat down in front of him.

“I think you should call her,” Felix said, unprovoked.

“Hmm?” Seungmin lifted his eyes from the floor. “What are you talking about?”

“Come on,” the other boy nodded at the phone in Seungmin’s hands. “You think we don’t notice the way you rush over here whenever it lights up? You should just call her.”

“No,” he disagreed. He was already suffering as it was, he didn’t think he could handle it if he tried to get you back and failed. “What would I even say?”

Felix shrugged. He’d never been in this position before and that was probably why Seungmin’s predicament didn’t seem very serious to him. The way out of this situation was glaringly obvious.

“Tell her you love her,” he suggested with a nonchalant shrug. “Sometimes that’s enough.”

Sometimes that was enough, but Seungmin didn’t think this was one of those times. He would have to say more, try harder, be more convincing. But he couldn’t do that yet – not just because he couldn’t find the words, but also because the wounds of your break-up were still too fresh. He needed to get used to this pain before he risked getting hurt again.

But he knew he would have to do something eventually. He just hoped he wouldn’t be too late.

↣ i.n

It had been a long time since he’d seen you last, and yet that didn’t make the break-up any easier. Who knew you didn’t even need the other person to stand in front of you, to be able to see their face? You could just close your eyes and they would be right there.

That was why Jeongin was found, more often than not, in his bed after the break-up. He wasn’t sleeping – he couldn’t – but you were next to him when he had his eyes closed, and that was much better than the bitter reality when his eyes were open.

The other boys tried to force him to go out. And only after a week since they started to pester him about how he needed to get a breath of fresh air, did they finally succeed. Well, sort of.

The second Jeongin set one foot outside of the bedroom, he heard his phone vibrate and rushed back inside to check. They managed to pull him out again – and even dragged him all the way to the front door, this time – but he protested about how he couldn’t go out looking like this, and then went back to his room to change. He didn’t come out again, of course.

This clearly called for an intervention, and all the boys knew that it wasn’t going to be pretty.

“I really don’t want to do this,” Hyunjin announced as he walked into Jeongin’s bedroom one Friday night. The rest of the boys had left – cowards – so it was just the two of them. “But you’re leaving me—us—with no choice.”

Jeongin rolled over on the bed to give him a look. “What?”

“It’s over,” Hyunjin said firmly. “You have to let go and move on. This isn’t healthy.”

He knew this wasn’t healthy. If it had been healthy, everyone would have stayed in bed the whole day. But there was nothing Jeongin could do. As unrealistic as this sounded to anyone who had never been in love like he had, his body simply refused to function without you.

“I get it,” Jeongin mumbled with a dejected sigh. “But I just—”

“Stop. Okay?” Hyunjin sat down on his bed, sounding more gentle this time. “No more excuses. You can stay here tonight, but you’re going out tomorrow. We’ll catch a movie or something. How does that sound?”

“Horrible,” Jeongin shot back. “No offense.”

Fully offended, Hyunjin cleared his throat. “None taken. But, just so you know, I’m not leaving unless I drag you out with me. Who knows, when the others come back, we might all set up camp in your room.”

Jeongin groaned at this, the sound muffled by the pillow. He knew he would have to get out of bed eventually, and he also knew that it should've been nice to have friends to rely on in this difficult time. But, truthfully, that felt even worse.

None of them said that it was going to be okay. That he was going to get you back. That it would all work out in the end. None of them even encouraged him to fight for you, or ask you for a second chance.

And the reason for that was simple and straightforward – they had never lied to him. If there was one thing he could trust the other boys with, it was that they would tell him the truth about his relationship. And, the truth was, it was over. It was time to let go.

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#stray kids reactions #stray kids imagines #stray kids angst #stray kids fanfiction #stray kids scenarios #stray kids fanfic #skz reactions #stray kids reaction #skz angst #stray kids x reader #skz x reader #bang chan x reader #lee know x reader #changbin x reader #hyunjin x reader #han jisung x reader #yang jeongin x reader #seungmin x reader #felix lee x reader

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feanor-no · 2 years ago

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I don't have that much to add, horizon-verizon pretty much covered it, i just want to ask, what exactly does "blatantly obvious illegitimate children" mean? Did the kids carry around a big sign everywhere that said "our father doesn't acknowledge us and thus according to our social status we aren't entitled to inheritance"? No? Then I have no idea how anyone could be an BLATANTLY OBVIOUS illegitimate child. smartestpersonintheroom I don't mean this as an attack on you specifically, but this thing is turning into a major pet peeve of mine. (I won't even get into the whole "it's all Rhaenyra's fault for giving birth to them". Really? Read that again but slowly. Anyway, not the point of this post)

A lot of people seem to regurgitate green talking points and throw words around with little understanding or care of what those words even mean or how they're applied, I've seen it on the side of the blacks too, when people would make otherwise excellent post and metas on the series but still refer to the velaryons boys as "bastards" or "illegitimate" in them, and it always annoys me so, so much. This show would have us believe that bastard=child whose father is anyone but the lawful husband, and that's just not it, sorry. Legitimacy is a social issue, not a genetic one (and certainly not a moral one). First of all, how would anyone possibly know for certain the paternity of a child? Medieval DNA testing? And does anyone really thinks that mattered? The term "bastard" has to do with a child's legal status in society, not their birth. It literally doesn't matter who fathered them or who they look life. Those kids are legitimate, they've always have been, because that's always been their legal status since birth (and no amount of wishful thinking by Alicent and her stans can change that). They could look like fucking penguins and they would still be legitimate as long as their father aknowledged them as such.

While the whole thing about legitimacy is bullshit anyway and only used as a means of control and nothing more, if you're going to talk about "well, that's just the society they live in", at least take the time to make sure you have a somewhat coherent understanding about said society and how it would work. If you're going to argue about the rules of a fictional word, at least try to learn what those rules are in the first place.

So please, for fucks sake, stop using that word when it's not applicable. Jon Snow is a bastard (yes, even if his parents had a super secret wedding, sorry), Cersei's kids are not bastards (yes, even if they were "rumoured" to be, even if everyone and their cats knew they were not roberts, that's just not how it works), and Rhaenyra's kids have never being bastards. I understand using that term for simplicity's sake when making a post, but it really sucks to see that term being used even by team black like it's a fact, especially when i see it in an otherwise pretty cool and thoughtful meta.

TLDR: you keep using the word "bastard", i don't think it means what you think it means

I support every devastation coming for the green’s. They think their blood is superior, let it spread let us all bask in its glory.

People who stupidly claim rhaenyra should declare her sons as illegitimate then legitimise them are either dumb or don’t realise they’re watching a show set in middle ages. A man eg-corlys in the same story, can do that for a woman to do that would mean execution for her children and herself, viserys did a lot of things wrong but ignoring his daughter’s kids parentage was the right thing.

#hotd #house of the dragon #rhaenyra targaryen #laenor valeryon #jacaerys velaryon #lucerys velaryon #joffrey velaryon

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castexpectopatronum · 3 years ago

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how they would react to seeing you, the new girl in Hogwarts, for the first time

notes: this was a request, however, this is a reupload because the original got deleated. unfortunately, i lost the @ of the person who requested it, so credit to them. if it was you who requested it, please let me know so i can credit you, and i’m so sorry!

Masterlist

Harry

Harry‘s mouth fell open the moment he set his eyes on you. Of course he had already heard the wildest things about the new girl from Durmstrang, but somehow all of them had failed to mention how extraordinarily pretty you were. And now you were standing in front of him, framed by Ron and Hermione, and like an idiot he couldn‘t stop gaping at you. As if she was talking through a cushion, he heard Hermione‘s voice; she was introducing you and he just so managed to catch your name: y/n.

Hot panic rushed through his body as he realised it was now his turn to say something, but he merely managed to get out a few ”uhms“ and he was pretty sure the words he was forming in his mouth were in no coherent order. He blushed with embarrassement, but you didn‘t seem to mind. In fact, you smiled at him, a sweet, soft, loving smile, that Harry knew, in that very moment, he would never get tired of seeing.

Ron

Durmstrang had never been one of Ron’s preferred wizarding schools. It was a place full of dark magic and evil sorcerers, and even the fact that it was the school Viktor Krum attended didn’t really help. So when he learned there was going to be a transfer student from there that would soon be attending Hogwarts, he wasn’t exactly thrilled. In his mind he had imagined an ugly girl with pimples and a tooth gap, but now he realised that was far, far from the truth. He could only stand there, staring at you, unable to believe that that was the new transfer student. Because how could you be? You seemed far to … pure to be coming from such a dark place like Durmstrang, with your bright smile and those twinkling eyes and that contagious laughter that was now Ron‘s favourite sound in the entire world…

Perhaps he should reconsider some of his opinions.

Draco

Even before you had come to Hogwarts, Draco had made it his personal mission to make you feel welcome. After all, if it hadn‘t been for his mother, he would be attending Durmstrang, as well. Plus, the two of you were in the same grade and there was a good chance you would end up in Slytherin. And - although there was still a bit of uncertainty about that - you seemed to be a pureblood. It was almost too good to be true.

It was only when he set eyes on you for the first time and his breath hitched in his throat as he took in your stunning figure that he realised just how ”too good“ you were.

Cedric

Cedric was a prefect, popular, friendly, kindhearted, so of course he welcomed you in Hogwarts with the warmest smile on his face. But he found, barely after he took a first glance at you, that his smile broadened without his intention. You might as well had been an angel, a nervous smile on your lips and your fingers gripping the strap of your school bag, your eyes soft and shining and your silk hair framing your tender face. You were the most stunningly beautiful creature Cedric had ever laid his eyes upon. So of course he had no objections to showing you around the castle. After all, he didn‘t want you to get lost and he certainly didn‘t mind an excuse to spend more time with you.

Remus

He couldn‘t help but feel a bit sorry for you as he watched you stand there, your fingers nervously intertwined and your lips pressed together as you looked around, apparently overwhelmed with this new, unfamiliar situation. So, he decided to step in. He was glad to be able to help you out, not to mention he didn‘t fail to notice just how pretty you were. And as he watched the relieved smile spread out on your face as he introduced himself and heard the shaky laugh that passed your lips, and he found his own smile widen considerably, he was certain speaking to you was the best decision he had ever made.

Sirius

You weren‘t even attending Hogwarts yet and a lot of rumours were already going around. The new girl from Durmstrang. Everybody wanted to talk to you, everybody wanted to be your friend. You were the new toy all children were fighting to be the first to play with. So naturally, he was curious. What was the reason for you switching schools? Had you left voluntarily? Had you been expelled for hexing someone into the next dimension? Did you drink Vodka for breakfast? He was determined to find out.

Hogwarts was big, but it wasn‘t that big - everyone knew each other at least from passing by in the hallways, so he realised who you were the moment he lay eyes on you. And damn. You were exceeding even his greatest expectations.

You were talking to Lily, smiling, but your shoulders hunched and your fingers fiddling with the hem of your jumper. A mischievous smirk spread out on Sirius‘ lips as he took in your appearance.

It was time to get to know the new girl.

#harry potter preferences #preferences #harry potter x reader #draco malfoy x reader #ron weasley x reader #cedric diggory x reader #remus lupin x reader #sirius black x reader #blurbs #harry potter blurbs #marauders blurbs #golden trio blurbs #marauders preferences #golden trio preferences #request

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wondernimbus · 4 years ago

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two sworn enemies — draco malfoy

pairing: draco malfoy x female!reader

summary: there is only one thing worse than being hated by draco malfoy; it’s being fancied by him.

requests are closed for now! please refrain from plagiarizing my work.

After being on the receiving end of Malfoy's torment for four whole years at Hogwarts—a place where she's supposed to be making friends and learning and making the most out of all her youthful years—[Y/N] is beginning to grow tired.

The last thing she’s supposed to be worrying about is a snarky Slytherin boy who always has some sort of rude remark resting on his lips every time he comes across her in the corridors. Or anywhere, for that matter—Draco Malfoy's incessant jest seems to stay within no boundaries.

Eleven-year-old [Y/N] used to be fazed by it; she used to cry herself to sleep every time the platinum blond would push past her in the hallway, yelling out something offensive on his way, usually to do with her friendship with blood-traitors and the "big-headed" Harry Potter (or so Malfoy referred to him). She used to feel angry—angry enough to want to whip her wand out at him and hex him into oblivion every time he'd even as much as lay eyes on her. But the more Malfoy tried to bother her, the more it didn't anymore.

Fourth year wasn't so bad. Malfoy had already called her about a hundred nasty names at that point and was running out of them—his creativity was dwindling and [Y/N]'s concern along with it. She'd even laughed at him, one time during Transfiguration class—genuinely laughed, not out of frustration or anger but because she found something that he said to her funny.

"How does it feel being surrounded by blood-traitors and Mudbloods, [Y/L/N]? Pity you chose the wrong crowd to hang around."

"How did it feel to get punched by a girl, Malfoy? I hear Hermione packs quite a punch."

Malfoy’s nose had wrinkled into his signature sneer before he scoffed. "Tell Granger she can improve her right hook." At which point [Y/N] had snorted out a laugh—and yes, it wasn't a full-blown burst of chortles, but it was a laugh nonetheless.

Fifth year rolls around and Draco Malfoy is the least of [Y/N]'s worries. She's gotten over his nagging at this point; all his jabs have lost a bit, if not all of their luster.

But then a week after classes have started, Malfoy starts acting—weird. Very weird. [Y/N] has no idea what's gotten into him, but Draco's cruel insults seem to have veered off course and taken a very dramatic turn. He still yells at her in the hallways, but not to make some harmful jibe [Y/N] has heard thousands of times before. Instead Draco—yes, Draco Malfoy, the same boy who has never once failed to torment her in the past years they've known each other—has now made it a habit to yell pick-up lines. At her. At [Y/N]. At the same girl he's been bad-mouthing for the past four years.

The first time it happens, [Y/N] can't believe her ears. She thinks he's yelling at someone else other than her, because there is no way bloody Draco Malfoy is shouting "DO YOU PLAY QUIDDITCH? BECAUSE YOU SEEM LIKE A KEEPER" at her from halfway across the Great Hall.

But he's definitely staring at her, grinning widely in that conceited sort of way that [Y/N] has always despised.

"Is he talking to me?" [Y/N] asks Hermione, bewildered.

"Looks like it." Hermione looks just as surprised as her. "Knowing Malfoy, he's not up to anything good. Ignore him, [Y/N]."

But ignoring Draco Malfoy is not something [Y/N] is capable of; the feistiness in her makes sure of that. So instead of moving on and turning a blind eye, she cups her hands over her mouth and yells, just as loud, "ARE YOU A BLUDGER? BECAUSE I'D LOVE TO BASH A BEATER'S BAT INTO YOUR—"

Whatever Malfoy is up to, [Y/N] isn't entirely sure she's enjoying it. The next afternoon—also in the Great Hall, while [Y/N] is doing her homework instead of eating lunch (because Snape apparently thinks it's a good idea to ask for a four-page essay when the school year has barely even started), there's a thump and [Y/N] looks up to see that there's a little red envelope sitting on her empty plate. Looking even further up, she sees an owl flying away from the table and out of the roof of the Great Hall, where the owls always come from to deliver letters—although that only happens at breakfast. Which means this is from someone else, likely another student.

[Y/N] stares.

"It's a Howler," Harry says from next to her, like she doesn't already know.

"I'm aware," she mutters, narrowing her eyes at it before she sets down her quill to grab it.

"Who would send you a Howler?" Ron has looked up from where he'd been shoveling beans into his plate. He crowds into her space, peering at the envelope she now holds in her hands; and she can't really answer him, because only her name is scribbled across the front in handwriting she doesn't recognize. Whoever sent it to her didn't bother with writing their own name.

She hesitates, brows furrowed as she, too, wonders where it's from. Her parents don't have a reason to send her a Howler—unless she's done something wrong that she isn't aware of. But it's only been a week since school has started and as far as she can tell, she hasn't done anything worthy of being sent a Howler. Or at least not yet.

"Might as well," she sighs—it's going to deliver its message one way or the other, anyway, and [Y/N] prefers to open it herself than have it burst into flames, rain ashes down upon her homework, and then start talking—so she opens the envelope.

The Howler jumps to life in front of her, hovering in front of her face, and [Y/N] has never seen a piece of stationery look so angry before. A forked tongue slips out of the envelope—[Y/N] braces herself for the worst, despite not knowing who on earth might have sent it—until a familiar voice booms around the Great Hall.

"ARE YOU A BASILISK? BECAUSE WHEN I SAW YOU, I FROZE."

Ron's shoulders automatically start shaking with laughter. Most of the Great Hall—or at least the ones close enough to hear the Howler—have turned around to watch the spectacle unfold, giggling behind their palms and pointing at [Y/N] like she can't see them. [Y/N], in the meantime, stares, completely dead to the world and everything else around her, because she knows that voice.

But then the Howler keeps talking. "IF YOU LET ME TAKE YOU ON A DATE, I CAN PROMISE YOU THINGS THOSE FILTHY PEASANTS CAN NEVER GIVE YOU."

The entire hall has fallen completely silent. [Y/N] feels her face burning up, but not with embarrassment—[Y/N] is angry. She feels it thrumming in her veins, curling around her lungs, clouding all of her senses.

With a single flick of [Y/N]'s wand, the Howler bursts into flames with a final feeble wheeze of I'm also a fairly good snogger. Ron is roaring with laughter and Harry has also joined in. Two-faced gits.

[Y/N] slams her palms down on the table and vaguely even registers the pain this gives her as she steps out from behind the bench and turns around to face the Slytherin table because of course she knows who sent the Howler. Of course she knows who would go out of his way to humiliate her in front of the entirety of Hogwarts, because that extremely irritating, maddeningly haughty voice can only belong to one person—and sure enough, the idiot in question is standing there on top of the benches, arms outstretched towards her and that proud, snooty look on his face like he expects her to actually be impressed.

Over Ron and Harry's laughter, [Y/N] shouts angrily, "Malfoy!"

Malfoy drops his arms to his sides, hops off the bench, and swaggers towards her. She meets him halfway—and when she does, she doesn't hesitate to shove him angrily by the shoulders. He stumbles back a little, but he's still grinning annoyingly wide. "Have you come to me bearing an answer?" he says, his tone mocking, and [Y/N] just barely suppresses herself from whipping out her wand and jabbing it somewhere she wouldn't want a wand anywhere near. They are still surrounded by teachers. "I imagine it's a yes—who would turn me down, after all—"

"Drop the fucking act," she hisses; all eyes are on them, because Hogwarts never passes up a chance for gossip, and this might be the most exciting one yet. Draco Malfoy publicly asking out the girl everyone knows he's hated, and has hated him, for a long time—what a spectacle. But [Y/N] knows that his intentions are far from genuine; this is just another way to humiliate her and get on her nerves. And as much as she hates to admit it, it's a pretty good fucking move, because she hasn't been this annoyed by him in a long time.

Her teeth are gritted together so hard her words barely come out coherent. "I don't know what you're playing at," she practically growls, taking a step closer to get in his face, "But I encourage you to get yourself together."

But Malfoy seems unaffected. "Pity you didn't let the Howler finish," he drawls, still with that same smirk on his lips as he wriggles his brows suggestively. "I could've told you more about my superior snogging skills."

"Which is exactly why I didn't," she fumes. "We're in the middle of lunch—any more of you talking about your 'superior snogging skills' and the entirety of this hall would've thrown up on themselves. I know I would've."

At this, the smile on Malfoy's face droops a little, a ghost of his familiar sneer seeping in. [Y/N] takes a step back away from him, because she can't stand being more than a few feet near the prat. "You've got a lot of nerve, pulling this," she scoffs. "Try it again and you'll regret it. Now excuse me while I go do my bloody homework."

And then she turns around, goes back to the Gryffindor table, and does her bloody homework.

—

But Malfoy, as it turns out, isn't as weak-willed as he lets on. She's started receiving Howlers every morning at breakfast, all of which burst into flames every time to rain ashes upon her innocent plate of eggs and toast, but only after loudly blurting out some ridiculously bad pick-up line. It's been four days since the first Howler and they've only gotten progressively worse ever since—"you must be a Boggart because I'm terrified of pretty women"—and [Y/N] is beginning to grow so very tired.

Today, she hexes him in the middle of the hallway just as he's coming out of Potions class. She had warned him, all those days ago, that he'd regret it if he didn't let up. So [Y/N] watches, terribly amused as Draco starts wailing in the corridor, his hands splayed over his face in a measly attempt to cover the sardines falling out of his nostrils. It's an irreversible hex—or at least for eight hours—but until then, Draco will have to deal with the tiny fishes that shoot out of his nose at random intervals. [Y/N] can't bring herself to feel bad, not when he's humiliated her time and time again in front of so many people.

No Howlers arrive the morning after. There's a sense of what feels like disappointment coming off of the Great Hall; some people have actually turned around in their seats to watch her in anticipation for an owl to come swooping down upon her bearing a red envelope. Unfortunately for them, it doesn't happen. [Y/N], meanwhile, is finally at peace.

Or at least until Ron jabs her in the side and goes, "So are you?" he's grinning. "A Boggart, I mean."

It's a reference to the Howler she received yesterday. Her movements are dangerously swift; immediately she smacks the back of his head, sending him into a complaining frenzy. She rolls her eyes. "Stupid Malfoy."

"As much as I hate to say this," Harry begins, "I kind of wish you hadn't hexed him into stopping. His pick-up lines were pretty funny."

"Ha!" [Y/N] points a finger at Harry and nods approvingly, laughing a little. "That's a good one, Harry."

Harry stares at her dead in the eye. "Oh, I wasn't joking."

Her face falls.

"I suppose being on the receiving end of Malfoy's affection isn't any better than being hated by him," says Hermione, offering [Y/N] a sympathetic smile. "It's a good thing you showed him not to mess with you any further, [Y/N]."

[Y/N] tries for a smile of her own, but it comes out all stiff and crooked. "I feel like the past few days have been a fever dream," she says, shuddering. "This new form of—bullying, I don't know—has just been so weird. The bad names I've gotten used to, but—the compliments? The pick-up lines?"

"D'you think he's gone off his rocker?" Ron suggests.

"Maybe he fancies you," says Hermione off-handedly.

The effect this has on the three is instantaneous; Ron, Harry, and [Y/N] simultaneously blanch as though they've all swallowed something sour at the same time. Ron is choking on a piece of toast and Harry has spit water everywhere.

"Absolutely not," [Y/N] is shaking her head, nose wrinkled in distaste. "He can't possibly—that's ridiculous. We've hated each other for years."

"Feelings do change," Hermione shrugs, rolling her eyes at Ron and Harry, who have yet to recover from their initial shock. "And besides, it was just a suggestion. Although I don't see why he'd go out of his way to send you Howlers repeatedly asking you out if he doesn't fancy you."

"Because he wants to humiliate me in front of everyone!"

"Oh, alright, alright," Hermione sighs, sensing her defeat. "But you never know."

Ron has gathered his bearings once more. He turns to Hermione, genuine concern flooding his features, and blubbers, "Did I hear you right? Malfoy—fancying [Y/N]?"

"Yes, Ronald." Another eye-roll. "It's not that outlandish. Boys are boys—even Malfoy."

"Merlin's beard," he slumps down in his seat, shaking his head. "I don't think I've ever been this surprised. Not since I heard that Percy managed to score himself a girlfriend, and that was three years ago."

A few days pass, and while no more Howlers arrive, Malfoy is still as insistent as ever in his attempts to "woo" her—or, well, whatever it is he's trying to do. [Y/N] doesn’t quite know what to call it anymore; for some reason, it no longer feels like an attempt to bully or humiliate her. It's not as though he's insulting her, and it's not like her reputation is in any way being lessened. In fact, most of Hogwarts, it seems, enjoys the so-called "love-hate relationship" they've got going on, and expects them to get together sometime in the near future.

[Y/N] learns all of this from Fred and George, who are always a good source of gossip.

"What better love story than two sworn enemies falling in love?" George gushes, clasping his hands together.

"So romantic," Fred sings, closing his eyes and swaying his hips as though listening to a sultry tune only he can hear. “Setting aside their differences to answer the call of their hearts."

"Oh, Malfoy's still an arse, of course."

"But it's still romantic."

Part of [Y/N] wishes that the twins hadn’t told her that, because it makes it all the more confusing on her part. If, by some miracle, Malfoy does fancy her—what is she supposed to do? Ride off with him into the sunset? They are enemies—they have been for four, supposedly five years now, except this year Malfoy is being an insufferable twat who won't stop yelling pick-up lines at her in the hallways.

[Y/N] decides to turn a blind eye on him. If she ignores him for long enough, he's bound to stop.

Right?

—

Despite being a close friend to the famous Harry Potter, [Y/N] can say she’s made a name for herself at school that stretches far beyond just that girl who hangs out with the Chosen One. She’s been playing for the Gryffindor Quidditch team for two years and has contributed to some of the house’s most fantastic wins as a Chaser, and she’s also a fairly good student. She may have a penchant for trouble-making, but she knows how to limit herself. She prides herself for her work ethic and thus her grades are above average—enough for her to earn the favor of most of her teachers and for eager first-years to sometimes come up to her asking for help doing homework.

But enough for those very same first-years to come up to her in the hallway ready to do all of her biddings for the day, practically demanding her to hand over her books so that they can carry them for her? No. Certainly not. [Y/N] may have made a name for herself, but definitely not one renowned enough to earn the eleven-year-olds now crowded around her moments after she steps out of potions class, telling her that, “We’re here at your disposal! If you need us to do anything, just say the word!”

[Y/N] stares at the three children clustered around her, all wide-eyed and for some reason incredibly eager for her to start bossing them around.

Taken aback, she ushers them into a corner; the hallway is busy and people will keep bumping into them if they stay in the middle of the hallway like that.

Once away from the bustling main corridor, she bends down a little so that she’s at eye-level with all of them. “At my disposal?” she repeats, eyes narrowing playfully. “What do you mean?”

“We’re here to carry your books for you or grab you snacks from the kitchens or tie your shoelaces if you need us to!” one of them exclaims, bouncing on his toes.

Alright—this is getting ridiculous. [Y/N] pauses, lips pressed together into a thin line as she stares at each one of the first-years in turn; all three of them are staring at her as though waiting for her to start asking them to do push-ups.

She inhales. Someone must have put them up to this, because there is no way these children woke up this morning and simultaneously decided to become her servants for the day.

“Well,” she begins, smiling at them—and good grief, did she really look that young when she was eleven? “Thank you for offering to help me. I appreciate it, really—but lucky for me I’ve got some very capable arms and I think I can handle tying my shoelaces and carrying my books around and whatnot. But again—thank you. You’re all very nice.”

She pauses to look at their reactions; the smiles on their faces have drooped a little as they turn to one another, seemingly at a loss for words. “But,” the one girl says, frowning, “We’re supposed to help you.”

[Y/N] raises her eyebrows. “Supposed to?”

Someone definitely put them up to this—[Y/N] is certain of it now. And she has a good guess as to who.

She starts by saying, tone gentle, “Did someone tell you to do this? Because that’s really kind, and I’d love to thank them.”

The girl bunches up her lips in thought, shuffling her feet against the ground. “We’re not supposed to say,” she mutters, glancing at the two boys next to her nervously.

[Y/N] inhales. She needs confirmation, so she crouches down so that she’s the same height as them, and offers them all the friendliest, most trustworthy smile she can muster. The kind that wins over eleven-year-olds. “You won’t get in trouble if you tell me,” she tells them gently, and waits for them to nod in understanding before she goes, “Was it Malfoy? Draco Malfoy?”

They don’t have to respond—the looks on their faces are enough confirmation. [Y/N] suppresses the urge to roll her eyes, because of course Malfoy is the kind of person to somehow get first-years to do something like this. And she’s pretty sure it has something to do with bribery.

“Did he promise to give you anything, maybe?” [Y/N] presses on patiently.

The girl leans in and cups her hand over her mouth to whisper excitedly, “Chocolate frogs. Five for each of us.”

Ah. Of course. [Y/N] sighs inwardly and nods, standing up properly to once more tower over the tiny first-years. As much as she would love to have her own personal butlers, there is absolutely no way she is agreeing to take any part in exploiting these young kids. So she ruffles all of their hair in turn and promises to give them much, much more chocolate frogs than Malfoy will ever be able to offer if they swear to ignore him for the rest of their lives.

So she stands there in the hallway, a minute late for Transfiguration, watching the three first-years skip down the hallway, grinning excitedly to themselves—no doubt because they’ve just been promised what could be an infinite supply of chocolate frogs.

Which [Y/N] will now have to spend a lump of her summer savings on. Great. Bloody fantastic.

She didn’t think she could hate Draco Malfoy even more than she already did, but now, with the burden of buying chocolate frogs resting on her shoulders, she realizes that anything is possible.

[Y/N] finds Draco later on in the day when she’s heading to the Great Hall for dinner; as she’s passing by a window that coincidentally overlooks the Quidditch pitch, she sees him zooming around the stadium by himself, no doubt practicing to better his (in [Y/N]’s opinion) ghastly Seeker skills.

So she trudges off to the pitch, arms folded over her chest as she yells, “Malfoy!”

He notices, stops in mid-air, and immediately flies down to land in front of her, one hand on his hip and the other resting on top of his broom. That signature smirk is already on his face, mirrored by [Y/N]'s angry scowl. “Here to take me up on my offer for a date?” he grins, shaking his (sweaty, wet) hair out of his eyes. [Y/N] watches the movement, unimpressed. “Or were you just planning to watch me practice?”

She scoffs, tearing her eyes away from the way he’s running a hand through his blond hair. “Neither. I thought you were bad enough, Malfoy, but bribing first-years into doing my bidding for me? In exchange for bloody chocolate frogs?”

Malfoy’s hand pauses in carding through his hair. He drops it back to his side. “So you figured it out.”

”Why else would first-years be so eager for me to boss them around?”

”Maybe because they find you just as beautiful as I do?” he suggests, eyes glinting, the smile on his face growing even wider. [Y/N] lets out a quick breath of incredulous laughter, because is he really still keeping this act up when no one is around to see? Is he that desperate to get on her nerves?

“Just stop it, Malfoy,” she says through gritted teeth, taking a step closer to him. At this, he whistles a little, eyebrows rising, and for some reason [Y/N] tries very, very hard not to look at the sweat trickling down his forehead, the pale pink hue of his cheeks from the strain of practicing—“Please for the love of Merlin can you just drop the whole I’m-in-love-with-you act? You got what you wanted. You’ve annoyed me enough.”

Draco's nose wrinkles. “Oh, but that’s not what I wanted,” the smile on his face falters a little. ”Did you really think I did all of this just to annoy you?”

[Y/N]’s eyebrows furrow—and is that her heart skipping a beat? No. No, definitely not. Falling quiet for a few moments, she finally sniffs and says, “Why else would you go out of your way to act absolutely smitten by me?”

An echo of Hermione's voice from several days ago reverberates through her head. Maybe he fancies you.

Malfoy shrugs, his smirk falling just the tiniest bit to be replaced by a semblance of sincerity. But that can’t be. And then he says, “Maybe I fancy you,” and [Y/N]’s eyes widen.

That can’t be right. Flabbergasted, she blinks, taking a step back. This has to be some sort of joke—no, yes, that’s exactly what this is: another way to crawl under her skin and annoy the daylights out of her. She has to applaud him for his creativity.

Pinching the space between her eyes in irritation, she looks up at Malfoy, inhales, and says, deadpan, “I’m being serious.”

“I am too,” Malfoy counters, eyebrows raised innocently, and [Y/N] has never wanted to smack him more than she does now.

She lets out another incredulous laugh, because this entire situation is just so bloody ridiculous that she can’t quite wrap her head around it. Throwing her hands up in the air in frustration, she turns to him and says, “Alright—okay. Let’s say you do fancy me. I’m going to pretend for a few seconds that you do—okay?”

Draco watches her, evidently amused judging by his grin, shrugs, and nods.

“Okay,” she huffs. “If you do fancy me—why on earth would you?”

Draco opens his mouth, but she cuts him off: “We hate each other, Malfoy. We’ve hated each other since the moment you laid eyes on me and I laid eyes on you. What could have possibly changed your rotten mind?”

He rolls his eyes at this, shifting a little on where he stands. “For starters,” he begins, like he’s talking to a five-year-old, “I didn’t hate you. I disliked the fact that you hung out with the wrong sort of people.”

”The wrong sort of people,” she repeats, deadpan.

“The Weasleys. Blood traitors. Mudbloods.”

She scowls at him, brain struggling to fathom what the bloody hell he’s trying to tell her. Managing to once more plow through her confusion, she says, “Your point is?”

“I’d have asked you out long ago if only you were smarter with who you chose to befriend,” and there it is—that familiar, distasteful sneer [Y/N] hasn’t seen in a long time. “Your family’s one of the oldest wizarding families around. It’s a shame.”

She lets out another scoff of disbelief, but the first few of Draco's words have something inside of her stirring. She refuses to address it and instead says, “So—and again, I’m pretending—you fancy me because of my family?”

He lets out a little sniff. “Not what I said.”

”What is it you’re trying to say, then?”

“Blimey, how long is it going to take you to realize that I actually bloody fancy you?”

Draco has dropped all pretense of nonchalant arrogance; he’s staring at her, obviously frustrated and a little annoyed. He stops leaning on his broom and lets it drop to the ground in favor of advancing towards her until he’s mere inches away from her face.

”I fancy you,” he repeats, and it’s funny, how he says it, because declarations of love are supposed to be sweet and gentle—not scathing and angry. He’s scowling down at her, lip curling, brows drawn in together in the middle in a tight frown. “I’ve decided that I don’t care who you hang around anymore because I fancy you. Do you get it now?”

[Y/N] swallows, staring at him, momentarily frozen. Malfoy doesn’t seem as though he’s joking—and now she doesn’t know what to say. She’s never been this close to him before—close enough to see herself in the reflection of his eyes, which are a striking grey and remind her of thunderstorms brewing behind dark clouds—

She takes in a deep breath and swivels around, turning away from him. “Stop sending children to be my servants,” she says, and starts to walk away—until Malfoy grabs her wrist and forces her to look at him again.

For a moment the look in his eyes convinces [Y/N] that he’s about to apologize, but then his lips are splitting into a wide grin again and he says, “What if I bribe a seventh year into doing your homework for you?”

Another scoff. She tears her wrist away from his grip and stalks off, in complete and utter disbelief.

”Or a house-elf to bring you food?” he calls after her. “Someone to do your hair for you in the morning? Or someone to yell at me for you?”

She halts at the last one, and for some odd, unknown reason, she feels like smiling. But she doesn’t, because that will open a door into something she isn’t sure she wants to explore. So she turns around, suppressing that mysterious little smile, already twenty feet away from Malfoy as she says, loudly, “I like doing that last one myself, thanks.”

From this distance, she thinks Malfoy might be smiling. But she doesn’t stay long enough to find out.

click here to read pt. 2!

#harry potter #harry potter oneshot #harry potter oneshots #harry potter imagine #harry potter imagines #harry potter x reader #harry potter fanfiction #draco malfoy #draco malfoy oneshot #draco malfoy oneshots #draco malfoy imagine #draco malfoy imagines #harry potter fanfic #draco malfoy x reader #draco malfoy fanfiction #draco malfoy fanfic

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psychewritesbs · 2 years ago

Note

I wonder how much about being a jujutsu sorcerer megumi had to juggle on his own while having a sister who doesn't seem to be as involved and having gojo as a "mentor" (I use that very loosely lol) I mostly mean this for megumi's mental and emotional state. I don't think he actually talked about how rough being a sorcerer is and just moved forward by building a very personal set of morals. He thinks so lowly of himself in terms of ability, so it makes me think he had a hard time adjusting to the idea that he would one day have to become a sorcerer that could actually make a difference or maybe knowing he was going to be sold influenced this thinking too. I always thought it was sad how a child had to choose becoming a sorcerer in exchange to receive funds for he and sister and offset being sold to the zenins. This may sound like I'm trying to make him seem more tragic, but I imagine he and tsumiki had pretty harsh lives despite not living dirt poor anymore. I just want to pick at his brain to be more honest so this is just a huge word vomit with some level of coherent thought but idk anymore

Just let me inside his head gege please !

HOLA! Thank you sooo much for sharing your Megumi brain rot! This is amazing aaaand it was indeed coherent.

So many details to unpack for conversation’s sake...

THE MEGUMI BRAINROT BELOW THE CUT:

“I don't think he actually talked about how rough being a sorcerer is and just moved forward by building a very personal set of morals”:

Oh I love this so much!

Megumi’s morality is something very interesting to me. And the way you’ve framed the whole thing makes so much sense.

“A very personal set of morals” is defo something that characterizes him.

I personally see Megumi’s moral compass as very self-serving. What I love about it is that he saves people unequally, and I get the feeling its because he gets emotionally attached to people and is unwilling/unable to let them go.

“He thinks so lowly of himself in terms of ability, so it makes me think he had a hard time adjusting to the idea that he would one day have to become a sorcerer that could actually make a difference”:

Personally, this is one of the things I find so relatable about him.

Megumi has massive impostor syndrome and even though he’s so naturally talented (Grade 2 Sorcerer at 15), and even though everyone and their Jujutsu-mom acknowledges and speaks highly of his skill and ability, Megumi is the only one who can't see it. All he can see is “I’ve got this trump card that I can use to win, I’ll die, but at least I’ll win.”

The thing about impostor syndrome is that it is insidious. God, it’s awful to be so naturally talented at something that you don’t even know you’re talented. Spoken from personal experience, when you have impostor syndrome you have this mentality that everyone can do what you’re uniquely capable of doing, that your abilities are not in any way, shape or form special.

So Impostor Syndrome kind of makes you second-guess yourself, it colors your perception of what is possible for you because you don’t know what you don’t know--in Megumi’s case, even knowing that one of the Zenin ancestors took down an ancestor for the Gojo clan must have been a big surprise.

I’ll talk more about how Megumi’s mindset could be the result of his history of childhood trauma and neglect later.

And that’s why, in all honesty, seeing his arc unravel is one of my favorite #things ever.

If you’ve been reading my Megumi brain-rots, then you already know that seeing Megumi become someone who challenged his own sense of self is something I love. But above all, I love how along the way he also learned to value himself and his life.

Not sure how much canon truth there is to this idea, but the way I interpret this change in him is that I feel like when Megumi realized he could accomplish more than he thought was possible, he gained the confidence to value himself and his abilities so that he could fulfill his desire to protect “good people”. After all, he can’t protect “good people” if he’s dead.

It’s almost like part of his arc has been about him learning to be comfortable with using his very unique abilities to, as you say, “actually make a difference” as a sorcerer.

So I totally love what you’ve said about how his old sense of self was uncomfortable with the idea of being a hero, someone who “actually makes a difference”. After all, in his mind, how can he make a difference if he doesn’t see the value that he can bring to the table?

We already know Megumi plays small and self-sabotages since he thinks so low of his ability. It’s also like on a subconscious level he can’t handle the pressure of having to “become a sorcerer that could actually make a difference.”

Again, Megumi is so gifted. He’s literally blessed with the family jewel (the 10 Shadows Cursed Technique), but he’s literally limited only by his sense of self. It takes him a whole 60something chapters to realize he can and should make a difference.

Ah, not sure how much of this is head canon but, as you say in your ask: Just let me inside his head gege please !

“Maybe knowing he was going to be sold influenced this thinking too...”

Yeah, totally.

Psychologically-speaking, a child of the same age when Megumi was abandoned tends to internalize what happens to them as it being their fault.

Imagine mom abandoned you, so did dad, and now even the other woman who was supposed to take care of you left too. It is likely for a child to internalize this abandonment as something that happened to them because they are not lovable or lovable enough.

To go back to the idea of how his childhood trauma affected him, the way Megumi is written is that his sense of self reflects the unconscious limiting belief that he is not “worth much” as a person.

And come to think of it, it makes me wonder whether Megumi’s resentment towards Toji comes from him being resentful of how he felt unimportant and unlovable enough for his own father to stick around.

When Gojo shows up at his door, Megumi also demonstrated that he had an understanding of how money works, so by learning he had been sold to the Zenin clan, Megumi probably internalized the idea that he’s a burden to others that isn’t “worth much”.

Boy, little does he know.

The point is that when you grow up with a limiting belief revolving around your sense of self worth, it typically translates into the kind of behavior that Megumi exhibits--that undervaluing of himself which translates into how he plays small, won’t ask for help from others, and is so easily able to throw away his life because he thinks the best he can do when in a pinch is to summon this monster he thinks he can’t control just because no one before him has been to do it.

Megumi is also a character who had to “grow up” too soon to be able to navigate a world he was not psychoemotionally prepared to deal with. I mean... he was 6? 7? Gege messed up on the timeline, but it’s safe to say Megumi was a school-aged child at the time he was abandoned by Tsumiki’s mother.

When you’re a school aged child, parental figures are supposed to provide the best possible conditions for a child to thrive in so that they can have what is considered proper psychoemotional development. If you think about it, Megumi didn’t have that opportunity to be a child.

And I have to say there’s something so beautiful about Megumi’s childish innocence when it comes to having to make the choice to become a sorcerer to protect Tsumiki.

It’s almost like, despite having to grow up too soon, his child-like innocence comes through in how confident he is in taking on the burden to become a sorcerer because of what it will mean.

Almost like he had this unfounded over-confidence that he could take on the world if it came down to it...

“...This may sound like I'm trying to make him seem more tragic...”

Not at all.

I wouldn’t say you’re making it seem more tragic than it is at all. Quite the opposite, I’d say Megumi’s backstory is meant to be tragic af. You’re spot on thinking about how sad his circumstances as a child were and how these circumstances affected and shaped his mindset as a person.

And in my opinion, what elevates the tragedy even more, is the idea that (I headcanon) Megumi is resentful and feels hurt about being abandoned by his father, but is unaware that he was actually beloved--probably even considered a blessing to the ones who named him.

If you think about it, Megumi’s circumstances are the result of a cruel and tragic fate--events and circumstances outside of his control.

Despite his gender, he was given the name that represents the concept for “blessing” even though it is a kanji normally used for female names--so I like to assume that he was the much expected and much beloved child to a couple that might have been very much in love. ✓ fate.

Mom got sick and died? ✓ fate.

Dad (who is also known as someone who broke fate) being at the right place at the right time, which ultimately led to his death? ✓ fate.

Gojo being at the right place at the right time to learn about Toji’s kid, the kid who inherited the Zenin clan’s most prized Cursed Technique? ✓ fate.

While we don’t know what happened to Tsumiki’s mom, I’m going to go ahead and chalk off her disappearance to ✓ fate since it was outside of Megumi’s ability to exercise his free will.

Aaaaaall that to say that I had honestly not thought about it, but I have to say I totally agree that Megumi probably didn’t have the most idyllic childhood even after Gojo took him in.

Megumi basically grew up knowing he was indebted to someone else (✓ fate). I want to think that one of the reasons why he grew up to be such a cranky teenager who was always getting into trouble was precisely because fighting was how Megumi could exercise his free will in a world where the odds had been staked against him.

But, more importantly, in my opinion, one of Megumi’s themes as a character is overcoming fate--especially your self-fulfilling prophesies.

What I love about how Gege wrote Megumi is that Megumi isn’t defined by the tragedy of his life.

Megumi isn’t on a revenge plot to get back at anyone, he doesn’t go around moping and bemoaning his fate (like Charlie Bernard from the Culling Game does), and his motivations are not grandiose--he just has a duty to fulfill because he basically sold himself for future labor so that he could protect Tsumiki.

In my Professional Anime Psychology Nerd opinion, I have to say Megumi’s character is so well-written. I also see him as a character-study on how unconscious trauma affects, directs and defines mindset in ways we are unable to understand because we take our reality for granted.

In a nutshell, emotional trauma distorts and shapes our sense of self.

Bringing to consciousness the unconscious stories tangled up in the emotional trauma we’ve experienced is the work of a lifetime--individuation.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record... this is what captivates me so much about Megumi.

The fact that Megumi broke through his own mental barriers in such a dramatic way is something I aspire to do for myself.

He inspires me.

So there you go.

Megumi word vomit lol.

Ok but listen. I LOVE brain rotting about Megumi and I totally just went on a ramble--I hope I was able to sort of have a conversation about him as I do tend to go on tangents. Thank you for reading lol.

But in all honesty, above all, thank you for sharing your thoughts. I love sharing my love for anime with others so I am grateful you stopped by to share the Megumi love.

Same for anyone who reads the #Weekly Mental Gymnastics.

Much Megumi-love!

#fushiguro megumi lovers unite #ask the mental gymnastics anime girl

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ilikekidsshows · 4 years ago

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how much do you think Adrien and Marinette's relationship developed from season 1 to 3 ?

Very well, as a self-professed connoisseur of all things slowburn, let me go over the Adrinette development that has happened in the show up until the season three finale and educate this fandom on the subtle beauty that is the Adrinette arc. This is gonna be long, because, apparently, there's a lot of material to cover, because this relationship can fit so much development into it.

Let's go in chronological order (as far as I can tell). In 'Origins', Marinette first started becoming a stuttering mess around Adrien when he opened up to her about how he wanted to make friends, becoming infatuated with the sensitive side he showed. Meanwhile, Adrien is excited over the prospect of having made a friend.

In 'The Bubbler', Marinette only manages to get out an awkward "hey," at Adrien and Adrien mimics her, in lack of a better response. He barely seems to know her at this point.

Marinette begins her infatuation with Adrien by simply thinking about him and fantasizing about him. In 'Stormy Weather' we hear Marinette's daydream, fully fleshed out on the details of what their children should be named, but not sure what their pet should be. Adrien seems pleased to see Marinette, but doesn't seek her out, also maintaining some distance.

Then comes 'Mr. Pigeon'. Adrien finds out Marinette is into designing and is taken aback by her verbal floundering. He also didn't know Marinette's last name. When he introduces Marinette to his father, there's an awkward silence after, like he'd finished the sentence too early, because he did, he never said her last name. Adrien knew Marinette existed, and was interested to know more about her, but that's it. Meanwhile Marinette speaks complete nonsense to Adrien, unable to remember what words even are.

In 'Evillustrator' Adrien seeks Marinette out of his own volition, having the perfect conversation starter in her encounter with Cat Noir. He wants to know what she thinks of him. Meanwhile, Marinette manages to get full, coherent sentences out, but keeps saying contradicting things. Adrien responds to Marinette with a drawn out "okay," starting to learn to just go with it and, at the end of the interaction, pats Marinette's shoulder companionably as he leaves. He thinks they're familiar enough for him to touch her casually, he was just waiting for the chance because he’s so touch-starved.

'Horrificator' doesn't actually show Adrien and Marinette interacting directly outside the acting scenes, where Adrien is very receptive to having Marinette as his co-star, but Adrien gets to see Marinette at her best, helping people out and solving problems. This episode is where Adrien starts to form his opinion of Marinette as someone dependable.

In 'Animan', Adrien knows Nino likes Marinette and is fully supportive. He's convinced Marinette would be receptive to Nino just acting natural and not doing anything special, so he thinks Marinette is a kind and warm person. He has no reason to think Marinette is into him instead. Marinette fumbles around Adrien again, and this time Adrien doesn't react at all: he's used to it.

In 'Kung Food', Adrien rushed to help Marinette the instant he heard from Alya that Marinette needed help. Marinette manages to get her meaning across even as she fumbles. When they have a discussion about Marinette's uncle, Marinette doesn't stutter once, and Adrien holds Marinette's shoulders when he comforts her. They managed to keep to casual interactions during the episode because they have other things to focus on.

In 'Gamer', Adrien is very casual around Marinette, inviting himself over to practise the game and being pretty frank about his insecurity as Marinette's gaming partner. Marinette responds first in a way that devalues Adrien's feelings ("No, you're amazing, I'm bad"), but eventually gives Adrien the lucky charm as a gesture of accepting him as her partner, a gesture Adrien will treasure for several episodes to come. Also, this episode has more casual shoulder-touching from Adrien to Marinette. (Aside note: Cat Noir later mimics Tom's body language in the episode, so Marinette's parents really made a first impression that stuck.)

In 'Volpina', Marinette shields Adrien from Fu's suspicions, but does briefly entertain the thought that Adrien might be Hawk Moth. This could be part of her catastrophizing or realizing she doesn't know him well enough to know for sure. Marinette also saves Adrien from his father, for Adrien's sake, not even revealing her own involvement in the matter to get closer to him. Marinette just wanted to help him out.

'Despair Bear' has Adrien protect Marinette from making a scene and making herself look bad, something he'll do again later in 'Chameleon'. Adrien sees it as his place to interfere for Marinette's benefit in this way and he thinks about the possible repercussions Marinette might have gotten from accusing Chloé publically without evidence. Adrien also instantly gets the idea to ask Marinette to dance when she bumps into him and decides to just roll with him when Alya arranges them into the typical "slow dance" position. At the end of the episode we see the first instance of Adrien invading Marinette's personal space by leaning in to talk to her. All in all, Adrien is just very comfortable around Marinette in this episode.

'Gigantitan' is more about Marinette learning not to overthink, something she didn't entirely learn as she prefers to abort the entire mission rather than enter a scenario with Adrien she hadn't considered. But we see Adrien offering Marinette a ride home even when his bodyguard is impatient. He really wants to do a favor for her.

'Riposte' has the second attempt from Marinette to simply spend time with Adrien, after 'Gamer'. She went into a lot of effort to learn fencing on time for the try-outs. She accidentally compliments Adrien to his face, who is very grateful for the nice things Marinette said about him. Caught off guard, Marinette fumbles once more, but manages to recover. Adrien laughs in enjoyment of the occasion and Marinette shares the laugh. Adrien keeps showing how comfortable he is with touching Marinette when he tutors her. Meanwhile, Marinette is very flustered, but manages to focus on what she's doing, doing well enough for Adrien to notice.

Adrien also questions Marinette's call as the referee, not concerned with Marinette's possible negative reaction and Marinette does respond honestly, showing Adrien that he can trust her judgement. Adrien also gushes about Marinette to Kagami, when he insists that Marinette didn't deny her the point to be mean, and the affection in his glowing endorsement has Kagami immediately note that Adrien likes her a lot.

In 'Befana' Adrien admits that he always carries Marinette's lucky charm with him, which inspired him to make one for her as a gift. The episode even ends with him looking at his own charm fondly, as the narration brings up "the person giving (the gift)", signalling that Adrien is specifically thinking about Marinette, who gave him the charm.

When Adrien asks Marinette for a safe place to hide in 'Gorizilla', Marinette gets over her stuttering very quickly when she realizes Adrien is in trouble to help him. Even in the subway Marinette is able to focus on Adrien possibly getting into trouble at home instead of getting flustered again. Adrien sidesteps the concern by playing the situation down, reminding Marinette that he does, indeed, always carry the lucky charm he got from her with him. At the movies he's more upfront to her about the restrictions he's placed under and why the movie is so important to him. Also, at no point does he point out Marinette is in her PJs, even though he definitely noticed. He probably just thinks it's a Marinette Thing.

'Frozer' has Marinette go all out for Adrien's sake, not because she wants to be with him, but because she wants to see him happy. She gives him advice on how to pursue another girl and asks Luka out on a double date to be there for him. On this occasion Marinette also shows how she's not as selfish over Adrien here as she was back in 'Gamer', when she was very willing to rob Max of something he really wanted in order to spend more time with Adrien. Meanwhile, Adrien gets distracted from his actual date when he wants to make sure Marinette is okay. When Plagg accuses him of "going after Marinette", Adrien is surprised by the suggestion, and assured Plagg that Marinette is just a friend.

An interesting thing to note is that Adrien actually sounds uncertain in 'Frozer' when he calls Marinette a friend, the one time he does so (at least in the English dub). This is why, when Marinette asks him to go skating with her sometime, he does entertain the thought of it just being just the two of them (aka, a date). However, when Marinette assures him it would be a friendly outing with other people too, the moment passes, and Adrien forgets his doubts and agrees to a friend outing. Plagg put the idea in his head, and Marinette could have sealed the deal. This is another occasion where Adrien pats Marinette's shoulder.

'Troublemaker' is the episode where Marinette's self-sabotage really gets going, when she "reassures" Adrien that she'd never consider him attractive in a romantic way ever. Meanwhile, Adrien once again invades Marinette's personal space and implies he doesn't mind modeling if it's for Marinette as he invites her to a photoshoot and says he's glad to have her as one of his fans.

In 'Style Queen', Marinette is actually open with Adrien about her insecurities and Adrien reassures her, and he supports her in 'Queen Wasp'. He also says he'd be able to model for her if she made it in the business, repeating his desire to model for her specifically that he first stated in 'Troublemaker'.

In 'Reverser' Marinette panics when suddenly encountered with Adrien and having to explain what she's doing, but Adrien gets the gist of it, having learned to interpret most of the word vomit Marinette produces and astutely claims: "That's typical of you," about Marinette helping someone out and offers his assistance if she needs any.

In 'Maledictator', Adrien is brave enough to let Marinette know he disagreed with the reason she and everybody else was happy. He doesn't pretend to be fine with the "good riddance, Chloé '' party because, just as Adrien knew, Marinette doesn't judge him for being sad to see Chloé leave.

In 'Heroes' Day', Adrien admits he came to the picnic to tell Marinette just how highly he values her. He shows how much attention he pays to all the times Marinette has helped their classmates and gives the iconic line "You're our everyday Ladybug". Marinette manages to gather up her courage to kiss Adrien on the cheek in response. This is also a notable moment when Adrien opts out of the usual shoulder pat, implying the gesture is something Adrien does to cut away the physical distance between himself and Marinette, since such a thing wasn't necessary in 'Heroes' Day'. (This boy is touch-starved, guys!)

In 'Chameleon' Adrien starts trying to play mediator between Lila and Marinette but, when that didn't work out, he once again protects Marinette from making a bad call with an opponent out to wreck her reputation, but he also acknowledges that Marinette had been wronged and decided to personally support her by sitting next to her since she'd been having such a tough time that day. He just wanted to support her like a friend would.

'Backwarder' has Marinette try to take the easy route of confessing through a letter, which predictably ends up not going as planned. But, as Adrien said, he spent all weekend making sure he could help Marinette with something he thought she really needed help with. Adrien just really wants to be able to do things for Marinette.

'Weredad' gives us an interesting glimpse into how Adrien views Marinette in relation to romance, noting that he "didn't think Cat Noir was her type". He's most likely referring to Luka, since he's the only guy Adrien has seen Marinette with, and Luka is quiet, contained and thoughtful, nothing like how Adrien presents himself as Cat Noir. However, since Adrien doesn't consider himself a candidate, he does most likely consider himself more like Cat Noir than Luka, aka, not Marinette's type.

'Desperada' has one of Marinette's worst freakouts in a while. Adrien showed up suddenly, and Kagami challenged her directly by saying: "Are you here to watch your boyfriend practise?" Marinette also tries to shoehorn Adrien into every situation, be it a guitarist or superhero, possibly as a subconscious attempt to gain more control of the situation with Kagami. As Tikki said, Marinette has a troubled heart in this episode.

'Chrismaster' shows off the fact that Marinette has tons of presents prepared for Adrien in advance for different occasions. These were most likely prepared during the early stages of her infatuation, when she was admiring him from afar and fantasizing about him. Making presents "just in case" fits the fantasy model. At this point, she’s embarrassed over having done it.

In 'Startrain', Adrien immediately relaxes into sleep as well when Marinette falls asleep on his shoulder. This boy is touch-starved, guys, and Marinette's touch in particular calms and soothes him. Similarly, when Marinette wakes up in the middle of their nap, she settles right back to continue sleeping, no panic in sight.

'Stormy Weather 2' shows Adrien connecting Marinette's handwriting from the note on his homework with the valentine he got, and all of the misunderstandings together convince him he was mistaken. "She's just a friend who loves fashion," Adrien says with a downtrodden face, disappointed that Marinette couldn't care for him as more than "a friend who's also in fashion". He thinks of Marinette insisting that she'd never be into him, and of Marinette and Luka skating together, with obvious chemistry between them. And, in the end, when he says it's just someone with similar writing, he sounds wistful.

'Party Crasher' has Adrien insist Marinette is one of his guys, clearly missing her when he's hanging out with his school friends. In fact, when she does show up unexpectedly, he looks very pleased.

'Puppeteer 2' is an episode that sets up obstacles for Adrinette in addition to the misunderstandings listed in ‘Stormy Weather 2’. Marinette finds out Adrien is in love with someone else, and Adrien tries to share more parts of himself with Marinette, only for it to end very badly. Adrien has been getting braver about expressing himself to Marinette, but it's mostly been his opinions so far. In 'Puppeteer 2' Adrien tries to joke around with Marinette, only for Marinette to end up mortified and crying. This convinced Adrien that there's a part of him that Marinette won't be able to accept so he'll have to hold back with her.

Meanwhile, Marinette overcorrects because Manon, as kids are wont to do, keeps airing out all of her dirty laundry regarding Adrien, and so she convinces Adrien he's lucky she even kinda likes him. Adrien connects this with the fact that apparently his sense of humor is something that Marinette hates enough to cry over it.

The rest of season 3 stays on the course set by ‘Puppeteer 2’. Adrien still cares about Marinette immensely, even if he's convinced she doesn't like him nearly as much. He puts himself on the line to protect her from Lila in 'Ladybug', and neither he nor Kagami consider Marinette's presence on their outing third-wheeling in 'Heart Hunter'. Meanwhile, Marinette is pulling away, convinced Adrien and Kagami are the perfect match.

There you go, that's the Adrinette development, broken down step by step, during the first three seasons. As you can see, it's actually quite a lot, and some people might even notice more development tidbits.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #adrinette #lovesquare #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #ml meta #long post #popular

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