#childhood friends to lovers would’ve been a whole other level of emotional

[arrakisser]

yeah.

[1kook]

card swiped (4)

→ jeon jungkook x (f) reader

→ “I’ve known Jungkook was a virgin since he first tried to tell me he wasn’t,” you tell him, arms crossed over your chest. “I’m pretty sure everyone knows.” GENRE romance (romcom?), eventual smut, teensy angst WARNING mentions of a hand job, talk of virginity OTHER college crushes, volleyball player!jk, student council president!oc, idiots to lovers, besties to lovers, childhood friends au RATING m (18+) bc brief sex ment WC 1.6k

NOTES (!) sorry for taking so long to update </3 school be kicking my ass. anyway here they are! an idiot couple. lmk what u think!!

[ masterlist ] 

In the past, whenever something had bothered you, the first person you ran to was Jungkook. Low grades, fights with your parents, boy drama— as your best friend and number one confidant, Jungkook was always your first choice. He was always willing to lend you a shoulder to cry on, even if that meant staining his white t-shirts with streaks of your mascara. He was always ready to go beat up a mean boy who had hurt your feelings during lunch, even if he’d miss his favorite special. And he was always down for some good old fashion i hate my parents ranting, even if he adored your parents. He was a great listener, an even better best friend, and had rightfully won you over from a very young age. 

That being said, how were you supposed to talk to Jungkook about something that bothered you when that something was him? 

You could easily tell any of your numerous girl friends, those of which would probably understand your predicament better than Jungkook or any man ever could. But after years of vehemently denying any notion of a romantic relationship between the two of you, you get the feeling your call for help will be met with more unimpressed glares than actual assistance. Besides, as much as you bring up Jungkook, none of them really know Jungkook to truly offer you any worthwhile advice. 

Your next option: Kim Taehyung. Now, Kim Taehyung held a similar background as Jungkook (translation: he also went to the same high school as you). He knows both you and Jungkook—frankly, more than you’d like him to—so he would be able to dissect the issue easily and offer trustworthy advice. The problem with Kim Taehyung, however, is that aside from knowing you at your embarrassingly dorky teenage prime, he doesn’t know how to keep a secret. Anything he knows, Jungkook knows. So if you were to, hypothetically, ask Taehyung for advice on Jungkook, well. Chances are, you’d probably get a rather confused text from Jungkook two minutes later. 

Which leaves you with one option— Park Jimin. There’s a reason Park Jimin isn’t your first option, and that reason presents itself now as you glare at him from across the empty room. For as long as you’ve been in university, Jimin has always lingered around the student council meetings, giving everyone he sees the prettiest, meanest stink-eye. You suspect it’s because he waits around for Min Yoongi, your Vice President (which isn’t an issue; Jungkook also frequents student council meetings while waiting for you), and doesn’t really care for anyone else. Your problem with Jimin doesn’t lie there but rather with the fact he’s adamant on taking up space and not lending so much as a finger to help. 

Today he is sitting with his feet on the table, dirty volleyball bag tossed on the floor. He’s watched you for the last fifteen minutes wrestle with the broken copy machine and hasn’t said a word since. He pretends he doesn’t see you struggling, because if he does, he’d be obligated to help you. 

To summarize, Park Jimin may be the fastest libero your university’s volleyball team has seen in years, but he’s a good-for-nothing bum everywhere else. 

And despite all that, he’s your best choice. There’s no one quite as blunt and honest as Park Jimin. There’s no one in this world who truly doesn’t care enough about anyone’s problems to gossip about them as Park Jimin. You plop down beside him, rumpled papers in hand. Without warning, you jump straight into it. “Jungkook is going to take my virginity,” you announce, like it’s the most casual thing in the world. If any of your fellow student council members heard you, you’re certain you’d shrivel up and die. 

Jimin hums. “That’s nice.” His eyes don’t leave his phone, thumb hovering over his screen. It’s a testament to how much he truly does not care. His extended silence plants a seed of doubt in you— was this the right person to tell? you begin to worry. But after a beat, Jimin’s thumb taps against his screen and he says, “Jungkook is a virgin.” 

You clench your jaw. “I know.” 

The thing about Jimin is, with the right wording, you can get him interested in something. Not interested enough to genuinely care, but interested enough to at least listen and offer his own piece of straightforward advice. His thumb comes to a standstill over his phone, eyes momentarily going blank. It’s a minute gesture, one that’s taken you four years of paying attention to catch. Just as quickly as it appears, it’s gone. “Really,” Jimin sighs, back to, you now realize, playing CandyCrush on his phone. “You’re gonna let a virgin take your virginity.”

Not a question, but you nod anyway. “Yup.” 

There’s sweat building on the back of your neck, nerves at an all time high, but you’re trying to play it off. Just a little bit more and you know you’ll have caught him. Beside you, Jimin’s jaw twitches. 

Finally, after what seems like an eternity of trying to act calm, Jimin clicks his phone off and turns to you. He’s as intimidating as ever, ash blonde hair pushed back today to reveal his forehead and dark eyes. “You’ve known Jungkook was a virgin this whole time?” he asks, has this calculating look in his eyes that makes you feel like you’re being questioned by an officer of the law and not the shortest person on the volleyball team. 

With a practiced air of nonchalance, you shrug. “I have,” you confess, and it’s the truth. 

While you may have been initially fooled that night two years ago, you weren’t that oblivious. Oh, you knew clear as day that Jeon Jungkook was still a virgin, just as well as you knew that he religiously washed his sheets every weekend or that he had a specific color coded system for his underwear drawer. Jungkook was a fool to try and lie to you, not only because you had found out, but because you had found out that very next morning. 

It had been subtle. The night at the party, you had watched on with a throbbing heartache as some pretty girl led Jungkook up a set of stairs, had barely fought off a wave of emotion when he returned twenty minutes later, his hair a rumpled mess. “Did you… ?” you had mumbled, pressed closely against him by the back door. Your eyes had been glassy, from your emotions and from the drunken stupor you had gotten yourself into while he was away, wondering what he was doing. A sense of jealousy you would never admit to had curled around your heart. His hand had landed on your hip then. He smelled like flowers and vanilla, a smell unlike his own. Your heart clenched, hand mindlessly reaching up to cup his jaw, so drunk and heartbroken, you couldn’t stop yourself from trailing your fingers along his pretty cheekbones. 

Jungkook had graced you with a simple nod, and then, “do you wanna leave now?” 

You’d left, stumbling down Greek road on your way back to his dorm. Jungkook had held your hand the whole way, tucked you into his twin bed, and then promptly knocked out on the floor between his and Taehyung’s beds. The latter was nowhere to be found, wouldn’t appear until the next morning when he’d accidentally step on Jungkook’s ankle and wake both of you up. 

Jungkook had yelped, and your eyes had fluttered open. You remember debating rolling over, checking on him like you wanted to, but Taehyung was already there doing just that. So you had laid still instead, listened as the two boys clattered around the room. They chatted mindlessly, about the party and tomorrow’s practice. Taehyung had been bragging about some girl he’d slept with last night. “What about you?” he had asked, and your breath caught in your throat. “Did you and…”—a pause, the distinct ruffle of fabric—“finally?” 

“What— no,” Jungkook had said, and you felt the bed dip as he sat down on the edge beside you.

Taehyung pushed on with a snort. “Well, did you get lucky at all?”

Jungkook groaned, placed one warm hand on your back soothingly. You tried your best to level out your breathing, relaxed your facial expression as you clung to the sound of his voice. “Just a handjob. Some girl I didn’t even know. Does that count?” You could hear your heartbeat in your ears, felt it beneath your fingertips when you fisted the sheets. 

And that curt admission sat in the back of your mind everyday for two years. 

You turn to Jimin. “I’ve known Jungkook was a virgin since he first tried to tell me he wasn’t,” you tell him, arms crossed over your chest. “I’m pretty sure everyone knows.”

Jimin lets out a low whistle. “You’re smarter than I thought,” he grins, this conniving little smile that is a genuine cause for concern. “So you’re letting him think you don’t know?” You nod. Jimin’s smile grows. “My, my. If I had known you were this evil, maybe we would’ve hung out more.” 

You roll your eyes. “I’m not evil,” you insist, flicking him on the nose. Jimin huffs indignantly. “I think what he’s doing is sweet…” you confess, feel your entire body heat up as you recall that wide-eyed look Jungkook had given you just yesterday afternoon, your kiss print fresh on his cheek. “And, well,” you look down at your shoes. “I used to dream about him being my first.” 

Jimin groans. “You two make me sick.”

Copyright © 2021, 1kook on tumblr. absolutely NO reposts allowed.

[taketheringtolohac]

i’ve been working on the most self indulgent au for about a week now and I thought i’d share my thoughts. now presenting... my ace attorney blaseball au! including teams, positions, modifications and more about all the ace attorney characters i could think of and how they would play blaseball. you can also find it on ao3 here, but ive included all the information i have below the cut!

Blase Attorney (Blaseball Ace Attorney AU)

Phoenix- 

Team: Yellowstone Magic

Position: Batter

Modifications: Seeker

Details: one of the first replacements in the game, he was originally just a blaseball fan who was following around miles edgeworth his childhood friend to his games (disguised as him going to see Larry play) and sort of wished that he could play so he could get closer to miles and is at a magic/steaks game that miles is pitching when someone gets incinerated and suddenly he’s on the field in a jersey with a glove and that really messes him up, he's a pretty good player not a star player but definitely a solid one, gets the seeker mod in the season 19 tarot reading

Notable Forbidden Knowledge:  REALLY high martyrdom

Maya

Team: Yellowstone Magic

Position: Batter

Modifications: Haunted

Details: she replaced Mia when she was incinerated and isn’t a season 1 player but has been here so long that it FEELS like she is, isn’t great at the game and has like really bad forbidden knowledge stats but she occasionally hits a surprise dinger and the fans love her so they infuse her and she becomes a serviceable batter, is constantly filled with guilt and emotions about being the person who replaced her sister she gets the haunted mod in an election

Notable Forbidden Knowledge: high base thirst, really good divinity that only gets better after her infuse

Edgeworth- 

Team: Dallas Steaks

Position: Pitcher

Modifications: None

Details: season one player who didn’t really want to join blaseball but he took it in stride and he wasn’t very good at first but he got a blessing that MADE him good and he’s miraculously been on the team the whole time, originally placed in good league because Fran was in Evil and von Karma wanted them to dominate the game and become the best in their respective leagues, still one of the best players in the game, his dad still dies somehow, refuses to “buy into” the dad bit from the steaks and insists that he was just placed here

Notable Forbidden Knowledge: EXCEPTIONAL ruthlessness (one of the highest in the game), good other stats as well, just a really solid PITCHING statline, his other stuff isn’t good

Franziska- 

Team: Hades Tigers

Position: Pitcher

Modifications: Friend of Crows

Details: season one player who fans LOVE even though she hates everything about the game and the circumstances in which she’s here, she’s a naturally good player but she lets up a lot of home runs, she receives the friend of crows modifier in season 10 much to her dismay, ALMOST pitched a perfect season and then absolutely RUINED it in the last game and it crushed her

Notable Forbidden Knowledge: higher highs than miles but also lower lows, in particular her overpowerment isn’t very good, she is also a more well rounded player and would also be a fine batter (solid thwack)

Gumshoe-

Team: Originally on the LA Unlimited Tacos, then feedbacked to the San Fransisco Lovers

Position: Batter

Modifications: Siphon, Attractor

Details: season one player that is beloved by the fans and he’s decent at the game but he always tries to steal bases but he is so bad at it, he’s the teams siphon but he NEVER drinks blood except to draw a walk, he ends up getting redacted because of consumer attacks and is probably one of the first to do so despite him having QUITE a bit of soul, he becomes Wyatt Gumshoe in the Wyatt Masoning

Notable Forbidden Knowledge: GREAT thwackability, bad everything else which makes for a really interesting player to say the least

Athena- 

Team: Miami Dale

Position: Pitcher

Modifications: None

Details: POWERFUL ARMS also she is a replacement player she probably becomes a replacement after Simon does and she got into blaseball because of that cute flowers pitcher and now she’s here but she LOVES Miami and she LOVES being bad at the game, she leans really hard into the neon aesthetic

Notable Forbidden Knowledge: good unthwackability and ok ruthlessness, shakespeareanism is her highest stat, would also be a great batter and has really good thwackability and divinity, GREAT vibes

Apollo- 

Team: Mexico City Wild Wings

Position: Batter

Modifications: None

Details: founding member of the wings legal team who’s another replacement player that FEELS like he’s a season 1 player, he isn’t very good in general but REALLY good for the wings and is probably the mvp at some point but like he’s a really inconsistent hitter but when he DOES hit its POWERFUL and he gets a lot of RBI’s 

Notable Forbidden Knowledge: SHOCKINGLY good musclitude and ground friction, GOD awful moxie

Larry- 

Team: Dallas Steaks

Position: Batter

Modifications: None

Details: season one player who is like the teams designated player we beat up on because they’re awful but we love them, gets shadowed in the expansion era because he just wasn’t good anymore and he REFUSED to leave, he is the definition of “YOU CANT KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH THIS,” would always party but his forbidden knowledge is TRASH so it was never worth anything because he’s top ten in the league for career strikeouts

Notable Forbidden Knowledge: REALLY HIGH PATHETICISM HOLY SHIT but good ground friction and like, ok musclitude

Ema- 

Team: Kansas City Breath Mints

Position: Batter

Modifications: Fire Eater

Details: replaced the first player incinerated on the team so she has a lot of fans because she’s been here a while but like also her career is forever impacted by the fact that people mourned so deeply before really appreciating her and a lot of fans can never really love her in the same way, but she has fire eater now and WILL cut a bitch down to size, she’s also definitely been attacked by consumers though, she also parties a LOT

Notable Forbidden Knowledge: good defender, high omniscience and tenaciousness

Lang- 

Team: Houston Spies

Position: Batter

Modifications: Maximalist, Siphon

Details: replaced a SUPER popular player who was REALLY good at the game and struggled with a lot of the implications of their legacy but he ALSO became really good and a really iconic player to the team and eventually became a fan favorite, LITERALLY cannot stop freaking drinking blood hes so fucking massive now holy shit but like only his baserunning

Notable Forbidden Knowledge: PHENOMENAL baserunning just in general but his base thirst is low so he doesn’t actually steal that much, SUPER high moxie and musclitude

Kristoph-

Team: Baltimore Crabs

Position: Pitcher

Modifications: Returned, Debt

Details: season 1 player who was a really aggressively middling player who had deceptively high stars and they could never get rid of him until he finally got incinerated in late season 6/early season 7 but he gets necromancy-d on accident and no one wanted this now he just haunts the league, he joined blaseball to get notoriety and some level of fame and convinced Klavier to join him

Notable Forbidden Knowledge: high coldness and ok ruthlessness, unthwackability is fine, shakespeareanism is also good

Klavier- 

Team: Originally on the Crabs, but feedbacked to the Seattle Garages

Position: Batter

Modifications: Spicy

Details: he signed up when Kristoph did. because he said that this would be something good to do as brothers and they even signed to the same team, carcinization really freaked him out but he was a season 1 crab and no one knew what would happen, he Feedbacked in like season 6 and kris got incinerated really shortly after he feedbacked which messed him up, he loves the garages vibes WAY more than he liked the crabs

Notable Forbidden Knowledge: high moxie and indulgence

Kay- 

Team: Charleston Shoe Thieves

Position: Batter

Modifications: Flippers

Details: shoe thieves, batter, she was originally a shadows player and just sat there doing great thief things until she got called up for having very sneaky good stats (rod.net style) where she singles a lot and then just steals her way to third/home, voted to trust her in season 11 and now she has cool flippers

Notable Forbidden Knowledge: really high basethirst and laserlikeness, also very high anticapitalism, good thwack subpar musclitude

Sebastian- 

Team: New York Millennials, possible feedback to the Thieves?

Position: Pitcher

Modifications: None

Details: his dad was a famous blaseball player before the ILB so he signed him up to play and didn’t get on the roster until maybe like season 9, really dramatic arc where he starts out really bad but slowly through incremental stat increases becomes pretty ok but then has a devastating allergic reaction and ends up having to be shadowed because he’s just unsaveable at this point, but still a big fan fave and people still talk about them, he would’ve been a pretty ok batter with really high defense but peanut destroyed that too

Notable Forbidden Knowledge: high highs and low lows and vibes are just… there

Juniper-

Team: Boston Flowers

Position: Originally a batter, but reverbs into Pitching

Modifications: None

Details: season 1 player who is really popular amongst the fans but isn’t well known outside of the fanbase she joined blaseball because she didn’t really have a choice and she was just working at the garden, she wasn’t a great batter but she’s a shockingly good pitcher, she had partied so much that she is now just undeniably good solely because she has partied THAT much

Notable Forbidden Knowledge: SHOCKINGLY good ruthlessness, its her only good stat though until parties make her good

Simon- 

Team: Chicago Firefighters

Position: Batter

Modifications: Ego+

Details: another late season replacement that was made to be a edgelord with really good stat set up and he’s a super consistent batter who just also gets walked a lot and has a LOT of thirsty fans, REALLY good at dunking, one of the best idols for solo seeds but ONLY for a SINGLE season because he just underperforms his stars for NO reason and its infuriating, joined because he didn’t want athena to get recruited but she followed him anyways to find out what the hell happened to him and why he just vanished

Notable Forbidden Knowledge: HIGH musc/thwack/martyr with really low patheticism, absolutely ATROCIOUS vibes

Godot- 

Team: Hellmouth Sunbeams, roams to the Tokyo Lift and then to the Canada Moist Talkers

Position: Pitcher

Modifications: Roamin’

Details: a season 1 player who would be a MUCH better batter but REFUSES to leave the rotation with deceptively high stars and one of the first players to get roamin’ and actually becomes good because of it infuriating LITERALLY everyone

Notable Forbidden Knowledge: have you seen bright zim? Yeah its just that. He has sixteen fingers for no reason

Trucy- 

Team: Originally a Philadelphia Pies player, but feedbacks to the Yellowstone Magic

Position: Pitcher

Modifications: None

Details: Phoenix becomes her dad after she feedbacks, later season replacement probably surrounding the s7 instabilities and beanings and she got REALLY popular REALLY fast with the pies fans and over siesta but then she gets traded like the Monday after and it breaks the fans hearts, she’s not very good but she gets alternated into BEING good

Notable Forbidden Knowledge: moxie queen! Also chasiness and continuation, as well as good musclitude and vibes

Nahyuta-

Team: Originally on the Beams, but feedbacks to the Hawai’i Fridays

Position: Pitcher

Modifications: Attractor

Details: expansion era player who replaced an absolutely GARBAGE player so the fans are DELIGHTED by him, lets up a lot of walks but has shockingly pitched a no hitter despite only being here since season 13, was infused because of his good forbidden knowledge stats, still gets faxed out of the game because he has games where he just lets up a RIDICULOUS amount of runs, actually fit in really well with the Fridays, was observed (by Kristoph?) and then got redacted 

Notable Forbidden Knowledge: uncle plasma… 2! Also REALLY big vibes range

Justine Courtney-

Team: New York Millennials, traded to the Breckenridge Jazz Hands

Position: Pitcher

Modifications: None

Details: joined the team before Sebastian probably around season 5, was pretty average at pitching but ate a peanut and had a yummy reaction which made her slightly above average but subpar ruthlessness made her still not great, traded away to the Jazz Hands after Sebastian was shadowed, really polarizing for fans there was a lot of fighting about whether or not to trade her from fans

Notable Forbidden Knowledge: ok ruthlessness

Mia-

Team: Yellowstone Magic

Position: Batter

Modifications: None

Details: was the season 1 stand out batter for the magic, she was a REALLY good season 1 player that fans STILL talk about even though she’s been dead since season 3, she was the person who was standing next to Phoenix when he appeared on the field and caught the ball that was flying towards him before it hit him in the face and she took it upon himself to get him acclimated to the game, she thought of him as a kid brother, she tried to keep Maya away from blaseball but couldn’t stop her from watching on TV, she originally joined to get away from the Fey clan and to try and do something with her life and also possibly find out what happened to her mother and she was promised social power and unlimited access to information

Notable Forbidden Knowledge: really solid statline for someone who never saw any improvements

Phoenix and Miles get together around season 6, right before the Jaylen stuff, then break up because they were both having a lot of emotions about the whole necromancy business and Miles was always on the idol board and there was a lot of uncertainty in their lives. I think a necromancy of Kristoph probably happens in the Expansion Era and he tries to get revenge on Phoenix for god knows what, and Miles ends up getting close with him again after a whole Grand Siesta of just being really emotionally charged friends and finally get together AGAIN in season 13 after a consumer attacks Phoenix, but this time they STAY together and probably get married because they're just so scared of losing each other.

 Kay gets to fight god in season 9, no this probably wouldn't have been possible if she was a shadows player originally but uwu <3

Kay and Miles get to know each other because she tried to steal Miles shoes, but he caught her. He offered to make her dinner and they just had a good time, Kay hadn’t really been shown that kind of kindness in a WHILE and she... missed that sort of father figure in her life... so she just keeps trying to steal things from Miles and getting caught until he finally tells her that she can just... come over through the front door. He will never say that she is his daughter out loud, but the collective dadconcious Knows, and tells him that they are proud of him.

 Maya and Franziska are rivals. They hate each other. When Maya gets 0 no it only makes it worse because it "ruins" Franziska's perfection as a pitcher and forces her to throw balls. They get to know each other over these pitch offs and start to realize that they actually aren't that different. Gay rights. They kiss. They have a great time over the Grand Siesta and make fun of their brothers, but they both have emergency bags in case the other one dies.

 Dahlia Hawthrone would never get involved in Blaseball and everything she does is outside of the game but if she was she'd be on the Boston Flowers and she would be her team's Pudge. A god awful player who on occasion actually does something good and half the fans love her because of her character and half the fans hate her for the same reason and also she sucks at the game.

 Most of them also still have their law degrees and also keep some semblance of what they do in the actual ace attorney games, except Ema who has of course factually failed the bar exam by nature of being on The Breath Mints.

[eldritch-elrics]

i rewatched the entire ice age series and i have opinions

after rewatching some of the madagascar movies, me and @calocybe​ decided to embark on a quest to watch more animated series from our childhood. an obvious choice was ice age! so, i present to you: finn’s comprehensive ice age opinions masterpost.

read on for an in-depth review of each movie, my opinions on what the series does well (good animation, really fun chase scenes) and what it does not so well (manny is an awful protagonist), and some other things too (like my analysis of queerness in ice age)

first of all, a ranking of the five movies from best to worst:

ice age

dawn of the dinosaurs

collision course

the meltdown

continental drift

first movie

definitely the best

accidental baby acquisition…

it’s just a really good premise. three bros with completely different personalities are forced to work together towards a common goal that doesn’t even benefit any of them personally!

it’s silly and charming and well-written

diego’s arc is especially well-done and it’s easy to follow the way his personality and opinions change

my theory is that they made this movie because they wanted to show off how good they were at animating ice. most of the models and stuff are not very realistically rendered but the ice is honestly pretty impressive

honestly hilarious, has really good visual gags

one of my favorite parts is where they go into the ice cave and find like the ufo and stuff

also the baby does the vulcan hand sign at the ufo which was so subtle and REALLY funny

the ice slide scene. incredible

and then it transitions to the cave painting part with a fantastic depiction of manny’s backstory in a way that’s honestly heart-wrenching??

i wonder if the death of his own family is the cause of his annoying clinginess in later movies, especially with regards to peaches. unfortunately this never comes up again

there are some genuinely emotionally affecting moments in this movie, especially with the humans (when the human woman gives away her baby, when they return the baby to the group) - plus, kudos for conveying all that emotion with no dialogue

this is the only movie where manny’s emotional stuntedness is actually somewhat endearing rather than aggravating

this is also the movie with the most interesting villains - they feel like an especially relevant threat to the protags, and putting diego in with manny and sid creates both good tension and good humor

i wonder why the humans never came back. i think subsequent movies could have benefited from their presence, though i have no idea in what ways. not sure how they would’ve pulled it off but having the baby they rescued in the first movie appear as an adult in a later movie is a plot point that i think would have had the potential to be really powerful

second movie (the meltdown)

pretty underwhelming after the first movie

plot feels disjointed and the climax is weak

i feel like they were trying to go for this sort of found family vs nuclear family / reproductive futurism bent but didn’t entirely succeed and instead made the themes feel muddled. especially after the first movie which was all about rejecting heteronormative standards of family, having manny suddenly go “oop i’m the last mammoth better Reproduce” was a bit jarring

even if he isn’t actually the last mammoth, it feels like the wrong way to start a romance

in general the romance between ellie and manny isn’t very well-done in my opinion.

manny should’ve apologized for getting so offended when ellie freaked out about the pressure to save their species, but instead ellie apologized for “overreacting” for some reason???

number of biblical parallels: a surprising amount??

you’ve got. sid as a jesus figure to the sloth tribe, the ark saving them from the flood, scrat as moses??

the villains in this one were super boring they were just like… evil fish…

ok i’ve said too many mean things about this movie. to atone let me present this opinion: the scene where the vultures sing a parody of “food, glorious food” from oliver completely unprompted is one of the best moments in the series

also the possum brothers are wonderful

third movie (dawn of the dinosaurs)

this was my favorite as a kid!!

it’s still really good

it doesn’t take itself seriously and that’s wonderful. like… dinosaurs? in the ice age? objectively stupid plot. who cares

buck is the best character ever he’s so much fun

buck’s entire thing is also being a VERY cliche kooky adventurer but the way that they play with it and are self-aware about it makes it good

also i legitimately get chills at the scene where he explains his tragic backstory with rudy

god the romance with the female scrat is SO stupid but at least they’re clearly making fun of romantic tropes here

good team-building shenanigans, like the laughing gas sequence

there’s probably something to be said about the ways that family is portrayed in this movie but sorry i’m too busy looking at the scene where they get swallowed by a giant plant and buck has to like cut its veins like he’s diffusing a bomb

also i do need to mention that the scene where they find the carnage of sid’s attempt at feeding vegetables to the dino babies and buck goes off on his whole silly detective-shtick about what must’ve happened (“leaving broccoli… a vegetable!!!”) was my favorite scene in the series as a kid. it’s so wonderfully absurd!

there are a surprising amount of dick jokes in this movie? and by that i mean like 2 but. it’s really funny rewatching this and going “holy shit”

there’s also a joke about a butterfly dude that i’m pretty sure is a trans joke (“i knew that guy as a caterpillar! yknow, before he came out”) so that was also pretty funny

this movie parallels the first 2 by 1. having sid take care of kids and 2. having a group of creatures who copy all of sid’s wacky movements. i don’t have anything more to say i just think that’s funny

buck and rudy are kismeses send tweet

fourth movie (continental drift)

yeah okay this one’s the worst

it takes itself too seriously and that is its downfall

feels tonally off from the other ones

i saw this movie during the height of my hyperfixation on plate tectonics and i remember being very offended at the fact that they made such a mockery of the way it actually worked… :pensive:

(granted, poorly-done science is a cornerstone of ice age, so i can’t really say shit)

anyway this one really felt like a jumble of cliches. the enemies-to-lovers thing with diego! peaches’ teenager problems! manny’s troubles of raising a teenager! all the mean girls! evil pirates! sirens! woooo!

it just didn’t feel all that original and it didn’t play with the tropes like 3 did

what is it in this series with guys not apologizing for their sexism and then getting the girl anyway

also wow. damsels in distress much

sheera’s design is also such a generic “female animal” look

the ape dude was a boring villain and too much of the movie focused on the pirates

okay BUT the sea shanty scene slapped. had some good rhythm and clever lyrics

lewis was good and i’m glad he stayed friends with peaches

the water was well-animated! maybe they made this movie so they could show off how good they were at rendering water

the chipmunk creatures on the island are like knockoff minions/ewoks

in general this movie felt way less funny than the others. less punchy dialogue

fifth movie (collision course)

solidly in the middle of my movie ranking. not as good as 1 or 3, better than 2 and 4

this was my first time seeing this movie! which means that my view of it isn’t colored by nostalgia, and also that i have a lot more to say about it i guess

first of all it’s wild to see how much the animation has progressed… this one was so well-rendered wow

i liked this one a lot more than i expected to! it was a good time, and, like 3, didn’t take itself seriously, which is always great

the whole thing is built off a lot of bullshit science which offends my inner scifi nerd BUT i think they pulled it off quite well

the fact that they got neil degrasse tyson to do voiceovers is just so funny

they’ve firmly established by now that the ice age universe can fully ignore the laws of science when it wants to, especially with regards to scrat and his butterfly-effect influence on the world

okay buckle up because i have a lot to say about scrat actually.

scrat’s ability to influence the universe has been steadily increasing as the series goes on, so it made sense that he would be the catalyst for the apocalypse in this one

and also the catalyst for the creation of the solar system i guess?? which was very stupid. i say that in an endearing way. that beginning scene was super fun & wacky

absolutely brilliant way to bring the ufo from movie 1 back btw

ok so the prophecy tablet thing that buck brings back? he finds it by pressing a button with the outline of an acorn on it and that’s very interesting to me

at that point in the movie i was really invested because i thought that scrat and the protagonists were finally going to be forced to confront each other on the same level. the idea that ice age might finally break its unwritten rule of “the protags can never know scrat as the force of global change that he really is” was legitimately exciting to me, and it seemed appropriate for the last movie in the franchise

unfortunately this did not happen. scrat just keeps doing his silly scrat shenanigans

um anyway let’s talk about some of the other characters!

manny continues to suck. more on this in the “low points as a franchise” section

peaches was actually really good in this one! she’s grown out of her “teenage stereotype” phase and into a character with a believable narrative about growing up and moving out.

her boyfriend is adorable and i was surprised to discover i actually liked their relationship!

sid did not need to be paired off though. neither did diego. what is up with kids’ movies and their shallow heterosexual romances

buck is back and he is fruitier than ever

man i really like buck. he’s so silly and irreverent and flamboyant and it’s like kind of embarrassing to watch sometimes but it’s ok he’s just doing his own thing

the villains were pretty good in this one. i liked how the female dino didn’t have a stereotypically feminine design

on an entirely different topic: let’s talk about the aesthetic direction!

the scifi thing was super fun. like, absolutely wild for a series about the ice age, but whatever. i like scifi

like the whole superpower magnetism shit, especially the scene in the forest? great! especially reminiscent of the climax of the guardians of ga’hoole movie

however the whole dive into the crystal cave environment was a lil tonally dissonant and i think it should have been cut (introduced an entire new world/characters way too late in the plot and didn’t have time to develop them enough, went too far down the rabbit hole of magic healing crystals jokes and all that stuff which didn’t seem to relate to the rest of the story at all, introduced a fun but unnecessary girlfriend for sid, the time could have been better spent making fun of more scifi tropes and developing the villains)

brooke the sloth girl is just miranda from the tempest change my mind also that climax is on a similar level of stupid as that one episode from hoshi no kaabii where they deflect an an entire asteroid using uhhhh cannons i think

but it’s like. whatever. they’ve fucked around with science enough that they deserve this

also i just realized there were no chase scenes in this movie which is so sad??

so there are my thoughts on the individual movies. let’s talk about it as a whole!

high points as a franchise

this series consistently has VERY good chase scenes

just top-tier chase scenes with excellent comedic timing and general pacing

3 is so good because it has a chase as the climax, and that’s what ice age is good at

4 is bad because it doesn’t have a proper chase anywhere!

the animation is really good. by that i mean less like the models are realistic and more that they’re great at conveying emotion and body language through animation

like this is especially true in 1 if you look at the difference between the sort of smooth, not very realistic animation of the humans vs… scrat

like they’ve got the way scrat moves down so well it’s delightful

the movies are, generally, funny

there are good messages about found family, especially in the first couple

low points as a franchise

alright i had a bunch of these written out as universal truths about the series and then 5 actually improved on many of them! so here are some criticisms that apply to the first four movies only:

just… every single female character? they deserve better

too many damsels in distress

all the fat jokes about manny are so unnecessary

the romances are really boring and not very well-written or believable

okay with those out of the way here’s the real biggest issue with the series: manny is an awful protagonist

heterosexual “no fun allowed” man

they keep him sucky so he can have a fresh new character flaw to be worked on in the next movie but that seems like a bad formula for character development, especially how many of his character flaws seem to be related to mistreating the women in his life

the man’s got a major possessiveness issue

he is just the archetypical slightly shitty husband/dad who forgets the anniversary and doesn’t let his daughter see boys and calls women hysterical and yes he does get better at each of the individual problems and he does love his family but that development feels so shallow!

manny is absolutely making AITA posts and getting labeled the asshole

it also feels like he never truly learns from his mistakes. he needs to be learning to apologize properly and most importantly to communicate properly! there’s so little emotional reality to his development and the script always seems to give him the benefit of the doubt when he doesn’t deserve it.

plus, this series is meant for kids and i just don’t think manny is an appropriate or relatable protagonist for that audience?

on a mostly unrelated note, yes i do like the found family themes but when it starts pairing up every single character and implying that all of them are gonna be monogamous het couples and have kids and conform to the nuclear family model. that’s pretty sad

some more random thoughts

my dad once said that ice age fails as a franchise because the premise of the first movie was not strong enough to support sequels. i think i kind of agree - you can see in 2 they’re trying to worldbuild off what little they established in the first movie, and also set up a bigger cast of characters, while still keeping up the “man vs nature” theme that’s such a cornerstone of the series.

i’m not sure they completely succeed. the worldbuilding of ice age isn’t necessarily weak but i do think they could have done more to round out the world and make it feel less like just a prehistoric clone of ours

there’s something about the first movie that makes it feel like a moment suspended in time. we don’t learn very much about the pasts of the characters and they get enough development in one movie that we (or at least i) don’t feel any desperate need to know their futures. it feels complete!

so in all the other movies are working with a set of characters who have ostensibly completed their development. so in each new movie, they need to give the characters more problems. usually this comes from external factors, like new characters. a couple times they do a pretty good job introducing new internal problems for the characters - diego’s quest to get over his fear of water was a pretty good one i thought.

but after a while the main trio just stagnates. diego, once the most compelling character, becomes pretty boring. he doesn’t have anything to do anymore. i’ve already talked about manny - each movie he reverts back into an asshole and it gets old so fast. sid’s a little better; he’s got issues with his family and a desire for a family of his own and all that, but more often than not the conclusions to his arcs are unsatisfying

sid plays the role of the character who’s doomed to never get exactly what he wants, except, like, in a way that’s supposed to be funny. we pity him!

i think he has some archetype parallels with escargon from hoshi no kaabii (why do i keep mentioning hoshi no kaabii) but i am not going into that here oh boy

i feel like i’m juggling a lot in my head right now, but sid’s position as the comedic scapegoat is interesting. i’m sure there’s more to unpack here but i’ve already gone way too deep into this series

there’s also more to unpack when you consider his queercoding hmm

anyway, on that note…

additional thesis: sid the sloth is queer-coded

complicated relationship with family (they hate him and think he’s useless)

lispy voice

cares about “fem” things like children. takes care of kids in both movies 1 and 3. calls himself “mama”

gets pushed into the role of caring for the kid in 1

makes vaguely gay comments at his male friends, like “you have beautiful eyes” to manny

there are literally so many jokes in the first movie like. diego’s “you guys are an odd couple” to manny and sid

that whole part in 4 where he’s trying to kiss the sirens and kisses diego instead and is like “wow romantic”

not interested in the idea of a nuclear/traditional family. see his shenanigans with the dino babies

he is interested in women throughout the series though (bi rights)

5 especially tunes down the queercoding and tunes up the “awkward guy who can’t get girls” angle

so. ice age. is it fun? yes! i definitely enjoyed rewatching the series with my friend. and kids will probably get a kick out of the slapstick and silly dialogue. but if you’re not a kid and looking to (re)watch any of them, i’d probably just stick to the first one.

[manikas-whims]

Sasusaku prompt 93

A/N: Sorry it took me so long. I haven't written SasuSaku in ages and my writing is still kinda rusty.

So bear with me dear anon.

And prepare yourself for some angst and comfort..:3

Prompt: “Losing you was the most unbearable pain I’ve ever felt.”

Title: Promises

Ship: Sasuke Uchiha X Sakura Haruno

Words: 1938

Rating: T

Sitting on a couch in the lavish, new apartment that he was relocated to, Sasuke Uchiha looked anywhere but at the unexpectedly quiet, pink haired kunoichi right in front of him. For a brief moment, his wandering mismatched orbs met the obsidian ones of a pale guy named Sai, who is supposed to keep an eye on him for his month long house arrest. The weirdly stoic man stared at him from the far end of the living room, where he was standing comfortably with a sketch pad and a brush in hand. Sasuke averted his attention right back to his ex-teammate. Ever since his pardon (courtesy of Kakashi) for his many unwarranted crimes during his years as a missing S class nin, he had noticed the subtle change in her behavior. Its understandable that they aren’t the same teens who were put together under team 7 yet Sakura was never this guarded around him. It was almost as if she was trying to keep their encounters to the bare minimum, only stopping by to do a quick checkup on his healing wounds and his lost arm. Usually Naruto was around them to diffuse the awkwardness in such situations but unfortunately, the hyperactive blond wasn’t available that day. Something to do with him bidding farewell to his friends from the neighboring lands.

There could be numerous reasons pertaining to her silent treatment but Sasuke didn’t have the patience to mull over all of them and figure it out by himself. The only other option he was left with was to confront her about it. But having hurt her more than once due to his resolve for revenge and revolution, he didn’t know how to strike a normal conversation with her. The last time he uttered something to her was at the Valley of the End, where he had sincerely apologized to her. From then on, it had been just her looking after him at the hospital, narrating fascinating tales about her experiences as a medical ninja whilst he barely nodded his head.

Sasuke sighed. It had always been a one-sided effort— him paying no interest to anything other than his goals as she worked hard on maintaining their delicate bond. But he didn’t want things to remain that way any longer. He didn’t want his soul to stay shrouded in the darkness associated with his clan. If not more, he atleast owed her just as much importance as she gave to their every second spent together. She was generous enough to forgive him for everything he’d done and accepted him with her warm smile. She had let her tormented heart trust him yet again so easily that he wanted to become a man worthy of her forgiveness.

“Sakura,” he tried, hoping his query will reach across her by the shear intensity of his gaze.

The said woman however, didn’t spare him a glance. She was too focused on patching a partially healed cut on the left side of his lower abdomen. “Sasuke-kun,” she replied simply, signifying that she had heard him, her other palm gliding along his bare torso in search of any injuries she might have missed before.

He was glad that even after years of separation she didn’t drop the endearing suffix whenever she addressed him. To a stranger it may seem like nothing but to him, the small gesture meant that she still regarded him with the same level of admiration she did years ago. However, her response didn’t help steer the conversation anywhere.

Sasuke shut his mouth tight, his tongue pressing against the inner wall of his cheek in annoyance. Had it been any other time where she wasn’t mad at him for reasons unknown, she’d have said a few more words, making this whole thing a lot simpler for the both of them. But that day, she just wasn’t in the mood to waste her energy in idle chitchat.

With the examination done, Sakura placed her palms gently on either side of his face and angled it up. A pair of onyx and mauve clashed with refreshing emeralds and Sasuke gulped, watching her send spasms of her soothing chakra through his ocular network. The strain in his eyes reduced comparatively and Sakura let go of his face.

“There. Now you won’t have to stay in Konoha after your probation ends.” The words slipped out of her lips absentmindedly and her pupils dilated in shock. Probably because she wasn’t supposed to say that directly to him.

Sasuke took in a long breath, his calm demeanor replaced by slight irritation. Was that what it was about? Him leaving the village as soon as he was back in shape? He didn’t want to believe that his friend and lover since childhood wasn’t speaking to him over something as insignificant as this. Throughout his trial, the five Kages as well as their subordinates discussed various forms of punishment for him but it was he himself who chose that in the end. He pledged to travel around the allied nations, aid each land in repairing all the damage and inconvenience he had caused as a miscreant and even handle other wrongdoers if he happened upon them during the journey. It was his first step towards redemption— a suggestion that the jury readily agreed to because everyone was excited to give orders to and make Sasuke Uchiha dance to their whims. And so, of all the people he’s acquainted with in the Hidden Leaf Village, he had hoped that his former team would be supportive of his decisions from then on.

“Sakura..” he mumbled, unsure of how to proceed. How was he supposed to convince someone who had always readily understood him without him having to explain a word of it?

“Don’t..” she said, bringing a hand up to stop him, “You have no idea.”

He motioned his lips to try and make her realize how necessary this was for him yet she shook her head and went on, “Do you know how hard it is when your genuine feelings are shrugged off as a mere teenage crush? Do you know how difficult it is when everyone expects you to give up on your very own emotions? Do you!?” her tone escalated and she lowered her head to obscure the fresh tears falling down her eyes, “No you don’t. You do not understand it Sasuke-kun, you can’t! No one can..”

He bit the insides of his cheeks, his only hand twitching to wipe her tears away yet he resisted the urge, afraid of her reaction to his touch— to the touch of the same man who had harmed her on more occasions than protect her..

“Losing you was the most unbearable pain I’ve ever felt.” She stated with a sob, tilting her head up to let him witness the honesty in her tearful gaze. “I can’t lose you again..”

It was true that he didn’t understand. He wasn’t able to comprehend how a woman as benevolent, loving and beautiful as herself came to give her heart to someone so malign like him. He knew it was rude of him to ask for more of her when she had always given her best but he had to do this. She could hate him for the time being– god how he wished she’d have a sliver of hatred for him hidden somewhere beneath all those thick layers of her affection but she didn’t. She was too good to have any sorts of negative emotions towards him.

“I must do thi–”

“Stop lying to me, Sasuke-kun.” She cut him off, a bitter smile gracing her cherry lips, “Just admit that I’m not enough for you to stay. That I never will be..”

For the first time since his return to Konoha, Sasuke’s composed countenance wavered, shock momentarily flitting across his face. Subconsciously, he covered the dormant cursed seal on his neck and turned his head to the side. He had always considered her the small but strong flicker of joy in his rather desolate life so hearing her belittle herself irked him. Had he known that his plans about the travel were causing her this much distress and self-doubt, he would’ve talked to her sooner.

“I admit it.” He spoke, turning his head back to flash her an earnest gaze. “I admit that I can never understand the anguish of your heart. And I do acknowledge your indelible love for me. I’m grateful, Sakura..” He said, wishing somehow his words would express the sincerity in them. “But I can’t answer your feelings right now. I..I’m not worthy of them..”

“Sasuke-kun!” she literally yelled in disappointment. It was her turn to get irritated at his self-loathing. “I told you that I don’t hold you responsible for any of that. We both hurt each-other and..I have put those happenings far behind.”

“Have you now?” he asked pointedly and she bit her bottom lip hesitantly. “Have you, Sakura? If so, then why won’t you let me do the same?”

Her lips quivered then, all her pent up fury and agony unleashing like a wildfire as she broke down into loud sobs. Sasuke noticed how shaky her feet were and immediately wrapped his lone arm around her waist, helping her settle down on the couch next to him. But she paid no heed to his act for she was too busy weeping and wiping her tears, struggling with the sudden shattering of her emotions. And Sasuke watched. He made sure to capture the whole scenario with the power of his eyes..to have a recorded evidence of how much he had bruised the heart of the only woman who had truly and unselfishly cared for him..loved him!

“I..what if you don’t retur–”

His palm instantly clamped over her tear-soaked lips, desisting her from finishing that ominous sentence. This was what he wanted to bring an end to— people actively doubting him. He wanted to prove that he was way above his past, hateful self. He wanted people to trust him like they used to when he was still a willing citizen of this village. But most of all, he wanted to restore that blinding faith she had in him. And for that, he needed to leave. It was mandatory for him to pay the price of sins and redeem himself.

“I will never cause you misery again. I swear this on my pride as an Uchiha. I won’t tarnish your your soul any more than this. So please..have some faith in me.” He spoke as tenderly as he could, reaching out his hand to hold her dainty palm in his calloused one and gave a squeeze in assurance.

The glassy eyes of the pinkette faltered at his words, a mix of shock and pride swimming in them. And just like that, she allowed her head to nod slowly, a timid smile curving upon her lips. She allowed her scarred self to have faith in him.

“I’ll be back to you. And then, we can figure work out this unspoken whatever I have for you..” he added, as if to solidify the foundation of his previous statements.

More tears cascaded down her cheeks— happy tears! And she squeezed his palm in return. “Then, I’ll wait for you. Always..”

Silence took over the room yet again, the two young adults exchanging their sentiments through their meaningful gazes. They were too lost in their own little world to even take note of the pale, ex-root nin observing them the whole time, capturing those sequence of events not just in his memory but also on a fresh page of his sketchpad.

A/N: Hope it was upto your expectations..:)

Request SasuSaku oneshots from this Prompt List

Until Next Time...

~Manika

[quarterfromcanon]

27-29 for the get to know my favorites game

Hello, lovely! Thank you for these. :) Trios turned out to be a surprising challenge (I apparently have more favorite groups of four than three), but I’m pretty happy with the ones I remembered after giving it some thought. The final picks are under the cut! <3

Top 5 BROTPs

1. Paula Proctor & Rebecca Bunch (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) - Naturally, this was the immediate choice that sprang to mind. It’s the first relationship on the show I really fell in love with, and it’s the one friendship in the series that consistently tugs on my heartstrings. It’s flawed, complicated, and messy but the genuine connection underneath it all is strong enough that I’m hopeful they can work through their problems. I would’ve preferred to see more emphasis on that effort in the fourth season (and a lot more work on Rebecca’s friendships with Heather and Valencia as well), but I want to believe things improved between them after the finale. 

2. Steve Harrington & Robin Buckley (Stranger Things) - The general public opinion of Steve Harrington has been on such a journey since Season 1, bringing him now to a status of common fan favorite. As such, I think a delicate balance needed to be struck in finding a suitable match to team up with him on adventures. This person needed to:

A) Have good chemistry in their interactions with Steve

B) Bring a new dynamic to the table that he didn’t already have with an existing connection 

and most importantly 

C) Be a unique and engaging character that the audience would care about individually, so they didn’t get lost in simply being an offshoot of Steve’s story. They couldn’t be relegated to perpetual sidekick with little else to define them.

As far as I’m concerned, Robin Buckley fits the bill on every account. She’s artistic, resilient, loyal, and - especially endearing to me - a movie buff. She has a quick wit, a sharp mind, and a big heart. Being friends with Robin helps Steve take the specter of his high school self less seriously so he can put it behind him, and she helps him more fully embrace the person he’s becoming in the wake of that lost status. Having Steve for a friend helps Robin resolve some lingering emotional scars from school as well. It gives her an opportunity to share her authentic self with a peer and - to her relief and ours - find acceptance after revealing a pretty important secret. I can’t wait to watch the two of them be adorably nerdy and goofy bros at Family Video in Season 4, presumably with some daring fights against dark forces when they’re off the clock. Does saying I hope Kali comes to Hawkins somehow and bonds with one or both of them mean I can speak that into existence? I’m doing that now. It’s worth a try. If it happens in some capacity when the time comes, know that I will throw a One Blogger Party of epic proportions. 

3. Wynonna Earp & Nicole Haught (Wynonna Earp) - I had to use this specific screencap because it perfectly encapsulates the chaotic energy that makes me loves these two together so much. Their separate approaches to their shared work environment are at pretty much polar opposite ends of the spectrum, but they make a pretty solid team when they play to each other’s strengths and communicate. They also both love Waverly most of all, so it feels like they were bound to work out their differences eventually since neither would want to make her feel torn between her sister and her girlfriend. The hijinks they get up to in each other’s company are just top shelf. I look forward to at least a little bit of fun like that from every season. If I wind up having a lasting partner later on down the road, it’d be cool if their personality balanced well with my sister’s on this level. I’d also be really happy if I ultimately gelled with her person in a way that sounded unlikely at first but worked. Fingers crossed for both outcomes, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

4. Emily Thorne [Amanda Clarke] & Nolan Ross (Revenge) - I have two things to quickly clarify for those who are unfamiliar with this show.

#1 She has two listed names because she was born Amanda Clarke but goes by Emily Thorne for most of the series to hide her true identity. 

#2 Despite the impression this picture may give, Nolan is not marrying Emily; he is simply walking her down the aisle. 

These two are there for each other through so much - the looming threat of discovery, jail time, capture, near death experiences, heartbreak, the passing of loved ones, etc. - and they make it to the other side with a deep bond the likes of which they’ll never experience with another person. It is at times heavily one-sided because of how much drama Emily deliberately dives into, but it’s something that she tries to make up for during her more self-aware and less self-involved times. There’s genuine love and mutual respect there by the finale and it’s really gratifying to witness the journey they’ve taken together. 

[~Slightly spoiler-y closing statement after these brackets~] I was pretty sure I knew where the show was going with romantic ships by the end. I knew for certain it wasn’t my personal OTP for her because they’d already killed that person off quite some time ago. There was a part of me that could’ve found some contentment in leaving the story with these two as a couple. After all, one of my favorite ship dynamics is Reluctant Acquaintances to Best Friends to Lovers, but it was not to be. That being said, the platonic friendship they shared was a big part of the heart of the show and I cherish it for that. Nolan was a rare exception for Emily, a genuine bond formed in the years when she was tried to operate like her heart was made of stone. I also think working with Emily gave Nolan a sense of purpose and let him flourish in his area of expertise. I’m not sure how either of them would feel about the musical reference but, to slightly paraphrase from Wicked: because they knew each other, they have been changed for good.

5. Penelope Stamp & Bang Bang (The Brothers Bloom) - I have seen Rachel Weisz and Rinko Kikuchi in more roles since this movie than I had prior to watching it for the first time so, if anything, my fangirling over this friendship has gotten worse rather than more manageable. x) This post classified the film under the subgenre whimsical noir. It turns out that’s a style I instantly adore every time I stumble upon it. One of the titular brothers, Stephen, lives so deeply immersed in the variations of the world he writes for their heists that even those closest to him are essentially characters he can interact with on a daily basis. His feelings for them as people can get very muddled with his feelings for them as interesting OCs to move through narratives. A big trouble with this is that his living archetypes can often get reduced to clichés. He’s not always mindful of their nuances or allowing for the full range of their autonomy. Penelope is selected by Stephen to serve as the “manic pixie dream girl” who will be his brother Bloom’s forever love and Bang Bang is essentially presented as a “dragon lady” stereotype. I haven’t done a rewatch in years so I may be giving the movie too much credit here, but I remember this choice feeling at least semi-deliberate. It could be interpreted as a way to illustrate how Stephen warps real life to fit his vision. At least, I can definitely remember scenes that felt like they debunked the one-note assessments of these two. What I genuinely love, though, are the little moments when Penelope and Bang Bang are able to just spend time together with little to no interference from Stephen or Bloom. They share their hobbies and teach each other new skills. It feels like they truly perceive one another as whole human beings on a level that neither guy is capable of doing since they’re both so immersed in the drama of the plot. When the women are with each other, they get to be more than an extension of the men who maneuver them; they get to be themselves. Penelope is the only one Bang Bang clearly wants to maintain contact with once the heist is finished. I think that says a lot. Honestly, this is another BROTP that could slide to OTP. If someone wrote fic of them completely severing ties with the brothers and going off on their own - romantically or platonically - I wouldn’t be upset at all. 

Top 5 Trios

1. Luke, Leia, & Han (Star Wars Episodes IV - VI) - Oh dear, I��m overwhelmed just looking at a picture of them together. Star Wars has been a part of my life since childhood. Getting to watch the original trilogy felt like a rite of passage (when I was really little, Mom used to find things for us to do outside the room while Dad watched because she was afraid some of it might scare me). Princess Leia resounded with me on a level that almost no other fictional royalty has ever quite matched. Han’s wardrobe is still some serious #aestheticgoals and I would 100% wear replicas of his jackets and vests if I had them. I also remember thinking that Luke’s new look in Return of the Jedi was SO COOL with the all-black wardrobe and green lightsaber. Wow, imagine that, an edgy costume change that shared vibes with the common Disney villain color palette called to me as a baby fan of antagonists and antiheroes! Who ever could have foreseen that sudden spike in appreciation? :P Anyway, one of my lingering sorrows about the more recent trilogy is that we never got to see all three of them as aged adults in each other’s company. I still wanted our new cast to get their time to shine, of course, but I do lament the absence of at least one little trio reunion.

2. Luna, Neville, & Ginny (Harry Potter series) - The Silver Trio, pictured here with the first set of three that comes to mind when thinking about the books and movies. I do still love Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but I’ve found a growing appreciation for this other team-up over the years. They’ve been through a lot too, even if they are not always present where the main action is. Bullying, loss of parents, manipulation of the mind and body, abuse at the hands of authority figures - they’re all left with internal (and probably external) scars to bear. There’s also something to be said for how strong they all were in the school year set during Deathly Hallows, when the Golden Trio wasn’t around to inspire and unite those who wanted to stand up to ever-increasing tyranny. It can be easy, unfortunately, for them to get written off based on the oversimplified stereotypes that have gotten associated with them. People remember Luna as being weird and spacey, Neville as awkward and hapless, and Ginny as bland and lovestruck. They’re all far more nuanced than that, and they accomplish great things while fighting for and beside their friends. I’m planning on doing a re-read of the books at some point, and I really look forward to revisiting these brave kids.

3. Irma, Marion, & Miranda (Picnic at Hanging Rock) - Ah, yes, my very recently discovered darlings. I have many thoughts about them all. I’ll try to keep this as condensed as I can while still making sense. Some spoilers will follow, although those won’t answer every question the story poses. There are audience members who ship the above characters as a throuple, which I totally get, but for me it’s like soulmates of a different kind. These three have met at a point in their lives when they all burn with compatible intensity. They long for the same dream version of youth, for a way to begin life free from the confines of a world that won’t accept all their hearts contain. While the people that surround them may not be willing to bend the rules, nature itself appears to show them mercy. How often do we see a story of girls who just... love other women so much that a sacred location goes, “Y’know what? I’m gonna help you escape your restrictive society. Permanently.” This miniseries definitely depicts the setting as being involved in messing with the investigation, as a mystical place that befuddles unwanted intruders. I love the way these three fortify each other in times of pain and fear, and there’s something deeply moving about how standing side-by-side helps them defy the odds.

4. Sarah, Alison, & Cosima (Orphan Black) - Okay so, technically, when I picture our core team in this show, the net is a little wider. My mind tends to also include Felix, Mrs. S., Kira, Helena, Donnie, Delphine, and Scott. However, I think you could kinda argue that those characters have a stronger connection to one of the above three than they do to the other two. Thus, this ends up being the central triangle. They’re all such solid performances and the fact they’re all played by the same person is incredibly impressive (not to mention the, like, twelve other clones Tatiana brings to life throughout the series). Watching them go from tense strangers to sestras was wonderful. I’m glad they had each other through the increasingly complicated web of lies and schemes they had to unravel and survive. 

5. Galavant, Sid, & Isabella (Galavant) - Remember how James Marsden was in Enchanted? If you dialed down the deliberately cartoonish quality of that performance and allowed for more not-so-G-rated humor, I feel like you’d have a general sense of what Galavant is like as a character. Sid is his squire and Isabella is a princess whose mission happens to combine with Galavant’s, albeit fueled by different driving motivations. They find themselves involved in a lot of shenanigans because of Galavant - even in his own universe, he’s into the whole dashing knight thing more than is strictly necessary - but they make a fun little team to follow through the world of this musical television series. I’ve gotten fuzzy on the details since I watched it air live four years ago, but I remember the series being enough of a summer feel-good time that I’d be game to revisit the show again someday.

Top 5 Family Relationships

1. Stevie Budd & The Roses (Schitt’s Creek) - The whole fish-out-of-water setup for this series was already pretty fun in and of itself, especially given how outlandish their lifestyles evidently were before the show begins. The thing that makes it special, though, is how the absence of all their expensive distractions finally helps them prioritize being a family. The Roses do a lot of work to reconcile who they were with who they find themselves becoming in the present. It’s sweet to see them collectively conclude that growing closer to each other is one of the few things they do not regret in the slightest. They also silently agree to adopt Stevie along the way and, boy, does that give me a lot of Big Feelings, particularly in the later seasons.

2. River Song & The Ponds (Doctor Who) - I think it’s been like seven years or so, give or take, since I watched Doctor Who with any regularity. These three have resurfaced in my mind many times since then. They all love with such fierce and unwavering devotion, spanning lifetimes. It’s fascinating - and often heartbreaking - to learn about the things they’ve experienced and endured. Oh gosh, and once the show reveals how River’s story overlaps with theirs, and you pay attention to how she looks at them, IT HURTS but it’s so engaging to watch. The emotions are all flooding back just remembering them now. Argh, what great characters... </3

3. The Tico Sisters (Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi) - Rose appears in two installments of the third trilogy, but this is the episode that has both Tico daughters. We never get to see them interact onscreen in the film, but I still feel the bond between these sisters so intensely. I found out later that Kelly was present for the filming of Paige’s death scene (which happens so early in the movie that it doesn’t feel like a big spoiler - please forgive me if it is). I’m glad that was something they decided to do behind-the-scenes, because it definitely informs Rose’s grief. She’s sitting in the dark, picturing her big sister’s final moments with such horribly vivid detail that it feels like she was there, and yet she can’t do anything to change how it ends. The shape of the sisters’ necklaces immediately establishes that they were a unit even when acting independently, that they felt like two halves of a whole - all they had left of their family. Now there is only one, and that fact is a weight around Rose’s neck both figuratively and literally. It serves as a visual reminder of how she carries Paige’s absence always, trying to discover and embrace who she is on her own while still honoring the memory of a relative she loved so deeply. I think she reaches the end of Episode VIII feeling like she’s someone of whom her sister would be quite proud. I’m very proud of her, too. 

4. The Tyler Siblings (Wonderfalls) - Jaye is comically different than the rest of her family, and the show establishes that right out the gate when we learn that she’s the only one whose name doesn’t rhyme with the rest (left to right, the others are Karen, Sharon, Darrin, and Aaron, respectively). Her relationships with her parents could certainly lead me off on some analytical tangents but, predictably, it’s the sibling stuff that interests me more. I think it could be said that all three do more living inside their heads than they do out in the world, and that they’ve all grown up to be borderline loners (Ironically Jaye, who is considered the most troubled, is the only one I remember being shown to have formed and maintained a friendship). Aaron’s a very philosophical and analytical person, so you get the sense he talks to himself more than to others, although he still manages to resurface from those deep contemplations so he can goad and tease his sisters from time to time. Sharon is high-strung, competitive, and brings that “disaster lesbian” energy to basically every social interaction she has. Jaye’s standoffishness seems to stem from both the difficulty of fitting in with people and the fear that connections will fall apart once they manage to form at all. They’re all just messes trying to make the best out of the situations they face, and I appreciate that. I also enjoy how prominently the Jaye and Sharon sister bond features throughout the show’s only season. It starts out on pretty rocky ground, but they grow a lot in regard to how willing they are to communicate and express their love for one another. 

5. The Brothers Proctor (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) - The family dynamics in their house are in need of some serious work, without a doubt. I’m just really touched by how close these two have become without Paula’s notice. It’s possible they always were, in that we-fight-but-we-care way that siblings can often be, but the supportive side of that really moves to the forefront as they get older in the series and it warms my heart. There’s such a glaring difference between The Household As Paula Views It and Things That Are Happening While She’s Not Paying Attention. I can’t help using fic as a way to explore that. I happily find excuses for her sons to make pop-in appearances, just to check up on them. I'm so pleased that, as of Season 4, they seem to have become fairly well-adjusted in spite of everything. Oh, and I am still not over the revelation that they attend renaissance festivals together, in character, for fun. What precious cuties who would no doubt dislike me referring to them as such! Paula, please give them an extra hug from me! 

[angclhyunjin]

operational errors | spy!minho

desc: in your line of work, grudges and secrets run abundant. vulnerability can be your greatest asset or your biggest weakness. sometimes its both. or; spy!minho, enemies to lovers, bestfriend!hyunjin, lots of angst!! some sexual content & swearing

word count: 2.894

note: sorry for that hiatus, uni got so extra lmao. i have a pianist!taeil fic in the works as well and requests are still open! also lmk if you want a part 2 to this or an alternate ending

you dropped the files on your desk, leaning back in your seat to take a breather. as you silently celebrate having given the final touches to your paperwork, you’re rudely interrupted by a slam on your desk.

you look up to see another mountain of paper, and a very overly pleased hwang hyunjin standing behind your desk. he was usually your best friend in this line of work, but right now you couldn’t have hated him more.

“boss wants to see these done by tonight,” he smiles, and you groan out loud.

“all of this? and what do you have to do?” you throw at him.

“not my fault you fucked up your last mission,” he shrugs back, moving the pile aside to sit on the desk, stretching out like he owned it. you move forward to push him off and he casually dodges it.

“that wasn’t my fault and you know it.” hes pissing you off on purpose and you can feel yourself taking the bait. “if it wasn’t for that complete imbecile i would’ve had him! i swear to god, i don’t know why we’re assigned partners, i could have had him—“

you’re referring to, of course, the event that’s been plaguing you for months now. it had been a routine mission, a threat to some ambassador, everything classified and hush-hush as per usual. it was supposed to be easy: infiltrate, find the source, get the hell out. or it would have been, if it hadn’t been for your interfering partner.

lee minho, the dictionary definition for self aggrandizing, egoistic, over confident—need i go on? he had insisted on straying from the route you had planned out weeks in advance, one moment there and gone the next. complete radio silence for two minutes and forty seconds. and then—an ear-piercing blast that had shaken the foundation of the building, eliciting screams from all around. amongst the chaos, you saw minho in close combat with a figure in all black, clearly the threat you had been ordered to stamp out without anyone noticing. you only had time to watch as the figure roundhouse-kicked minho, knocking him flat before vanishing in smoke. it had been too late. the damage had been done. no lives lost but countless injured, the embassy on high alert and your agency disgraced.

so because of his incompetence, you had been confined to your office, staring at the same desk lamp and wall paintings every single day. you missed the adrenaline, the chase, all the reasons you had joined your agency in the first place. everyday, the longing grew more intense, and the only way to cope with it was throwing all the blame on the one who deserved it the most. you avoided minho at all costs, not trusting what you would do to him once he actually talked to you—which he hadn’t for a while now, probably wallowing in his own shame. his mistake could have cost him everything, but he had always been high in the ranks, a favorite, the golden boy. his spotless reputation had gone but he remained.

regretfully, you thought bitterly.

“come on,” hyunjin urged, jumping off the desk and sending a few papers flying. “get these over with so we can go train. that always cheers you up!”

it’s true, your lip curled. training was the only way you could lose yourself to action, though your opponents were merely simulations or dummies. anything worked at this point. sometimes you would convince hyunjin to engage in hand-to-hand combat, something he always whines against, saying he didn’t want to ‘mess up his pretty hands, knives always make such a mess’. once he started, though, he was a deft opponent, smoothly dodging hits and bringing down his own knife in swift, smooth movements. plus, the boy could land a mean punch.

he leaves, and your head teeters before landing face down on the desk in defeat. you’re in for a long night.

your feet slide forward easily as you draw closer to your target, assessing the distance between it and you before closing it in a sharp gesture. you hit it, slaps resounding on the dummy as the intensity of your punches grows. as a finale, you kick it sideways, grabbing it with both your thighs and slamming it to the ground with you on top of it.

you breathe heavily for a while, feeling the blood rush before the sound of a door opening permeates the otherwise empty training room. your eyes swivel and lock with some very familiar, very wide ones.

minho enters the room like he owns it, choosing to then ignore your gaze and proceed towards the punching bag. he wraps his hands with gauze, taking his time while you turn angrily to the front, letting go of the dummy and beginning to hit it with renewed vigor. the absolute nerve of him, you think as he begins punching the bag, quick bursts that grate your head. everything he does pisses you off, and yet you continue hitting the dummy. this is /your safe space. he won’t drive you away.

for a while, your noises intermingle, the silence between punches growing louder as you grow angrier, your mind spouting with reminders of what he did. it replays in your mind, and with a loud grunt you fling your leg at the dummy, making it fly to the other end of the training room, almost hitting minho in the process. he stops hitting the punching bag for a second, arms poised, and you think i’ve pushed it, amazing. but he continues on as if nothing happened.

clenching your teeth, you move towards him, reaching for the dummy. as your back faces his, you hear him finally speak up.

“that level of anger won’t work so well for you on the field.”

he’s barely audible, still hitting the bag as he had been, but you can hear the smirk in his voice. you circle quickly, almost restraining yourself from hitting him.

“you’re the last person who should be telling me what to or what not to do on the field.” you shoot back, and he turns for just a second to look at you before shrugging and continuing.

“get over it,” he intones, “you aren’t the one with the 24/7 surveillance following them everywhere.”

“i’m the one holed up in the office because you couldn’t keep your head on straight for one measly mission.” you have to stop yourself from yelling, furious with his nonchalance.

he shifts back to ignoring you, as if suddenly bored with the whole exchange he had started. you don’t know if he intended to rile you up, but it worked.

“i don’t care if you’re being stalked even while you eat, you had absolutely no right to deter from the mission. we had clear cut instructions, we all knew the risks, and it’s completely your fault you decided to fuck off and try to take all the credit for our mission. i can only expect that much from you—“

“don’t you dare act like you know me.” he's turned completely now, eyes darkening, finally paying attention. you’re not one to stop, though

“i don’t need to, everyone knows you! big shot with the rank and attitude. of course you’d want the glory for yourself, at any kind of risk. do you know how many people could have died because of your ego, how much was at risk—“

“shut up.” 

he storms towards you, slamming his fist on the wall next to you. “i’m not fucking stupid, of course i knew. stop assuming you know fucking everything with your holier-than-thou attitude, that you know anything about me.”

“then why don’t you enlighten me, huh?” you yell back at his face, dangerously close to yours but you’re beyond care. his expression falters for a second, the anger lines seizing and you grab onto that. “why don’t you tell me why you ran off, leaving me—“

“BECAUSE I KNEW HIM!”

everything is quiet. there it is, the crack in his voice, his harried expression. minho betrays his first hint of weakness, and you have no idea what to do except gape at him, no idea what this means for him.

“the academy i trained at was for children,” he begins, his voice quieter now, echoing around the room. “i grew up there, found my family there. one person, actually. he was there through everything. we weren’t allowed to betray any emotion, complain even once, but with him i could say anything and it would be okay, he would listen. i trusted him.” he laughed bitterly at that. “i trusted him with my life. so when he was thrown out of the academy, i tried to go after him. find out why, because of course they would never tell us.”

he pauses for a second, reflecting on it. his head fell back against the wall, managing to look you in the eye.

“they just told me he was dead. that’s what i went on believing for the past four years. that’s what i believed until i saw him that day in the embassy. it’s why i snapped and ran after him. i didn’t know he was the one we were after. the pieces didn’t click until i saw him with the detonator, before he—“ his words stumble and halt, and you can tell how much the blast actually affected him. it’s written on his face, in the lines under his eyes, the permanent resignation in his shoulders. you’re hit by the fact that no, this wasn’t his fault.

you begin to realize just how young he is, how young the both of you are. the agency isn’t an easy business, and thrusting you into the world like this with no regard for your past, your childhood, is cruel. you can still remember the loneliness of growing up in confinement, how you hadn’t been able to breathe in fear of angering one of your teachers. until hyunjin had entered your life, it had just been wall after wall enclosing you, not letting anybody in.

you can feel a wall drop as you listen to minho, feel the loss in the air.

“but what i’ve come to realize is,” he continues, shocking you out of your thoughts, “is that they were right.”

you’re about to ask about what when he closes the conversation for you.

“he’s dead. the person i knew and trusted is dead. and that’s all.” he takes his leave, the door swinging loudly as his footsteps recede. you’re left there with the weight of his words and a punching bags still swinging slightly, chains rustling before they settle.

your relationship with minho, though rocky after this outburst, seemed to settle slowly into terse nods and small smiles over the next few weeks. he could talk to you now, exchange a few details about whatever your files held, work related small talk that was a big step up from the previous glares you gave him. hyunjin noticed, and with a shocked gasp proceeded to pester you with questions, how on earth lee minho had redeemed himself in your eyes. you couldn’t tell him, settling on ‘well, i let bygones be bygones’ as a weak explanation to which hyunjin’s brow furrowed, knowing you were keeping something from him but chose not to interfere. instead, he began hinting, something so much worse.

“there goes lover boy,” he would whisper to you as minho walked past, earning a swift quick to his shin which he only laughed at. “so, y/n, i walked past the training room and your man looked really lonely there. want to go give him some company?” you could withstand it, but it irked you.

minho the human being, the person was a completely new idea to you and you had almost no idea how to approach it. sometimes you caught the falter in his steps, the genuine bow in his shoulders that reminded you of what he had told you. it was then that you decided to take your own course of action.

a few sleepless nights, countless strings pulled, and many blocked firewalls had been intercepted before you found the data that had been guarded from you; details of the mission, the notes relating to it, the attachment lee minho had to the adversary, christopher bang, who had been contained for releasing agency secrets and had escaped, going rogue. he had been missing until now, his location closely tracked by the agency. he had cropped up in many places over the years; australia, malaysia, singapore, finally settling down in uzbekistan now. having compiled all of this data, you walked into the training room once more, knowing you’d find minho there.

he looked up from the punching bag—seemingly his favorite source of stress relief—throwing you a smile before his eyes fell on the file in your hands. you handed it to him, and he dropped the bag, opening it with a stoic expression and reading the first few lines.

with the same exact face, he closed the file and ripped it in half.

“hey, what the fuck—“

“what gave you the right to do that?” he hissed, balling the paper in his hands. you gulped then, starting to rethink your contribution.

“i just thought—“

“thought what? assumed you know me after one little outburst? that you know what i need?” his face was furious and close, and you wanted nothing more than the ground to consume you.

“didn’t i tell you he’s dead to me? i don’t want to— i can’t know where he is! what will that do for me? what do i— what do i do with it?” his voice goes from angry to lost, and you bite your lip.

“you deserve to know. he meant a lot to you, you deserve to know—“ you attempt to piece together your logic, something that had made a lot of sense before you were face to face with him.

“he left me, y/n! i trusted him and he left! he’s not coming back, he’s gone and i can’t— i can’t do anything about it...” your heart clenches, hand reaching out to touch his shoulder, making him look at you, noticing the lack of distance between the two of you.

everything is quiet for a while, him breathing more heavily than usual as you notice the thickness of his eyelashes, the way his expression seems to soften as his eyes wander down to your lips.

you feel the world stop as he bends and closes the space between you, the softness of his lips the only thing you can think of as they move against yours and you kiss back, completely consumed by this moment. his hand goes down to your waist, bringing you a little closer to him as the kiss deepens, pushing you slightly against the wall. when you respond in kind, fingers brushing the nape of his neck, he kisses you harder, a blush creeping up your cheeks by the intensity of it. he’s kissing you like you’re everything he’s missed, hand traveling up your back and making goosebumps rise up on your skin. you’re lost in the sensation as your mouth opens slightly, kissing him back with more fervor, feeling the softness of his hair and pulling a little, emitting a deep growl from minho, who pushes you harder against the wall, traversing your body with his hands. he bites your bottom lip, making you moan out loud, and then his lips leave yours and land on the softness of your throat. he takes his time gently sucking and eliciting small noises from you, and you take a moment to realize what is happening, that this is lee minho, and you don’t mind at all.

he goes back to your lips, the embrace getting increasingly desperate, his hands gripping your thighs and hoisting them around his waist as he grinds you into the wall. you cling to him then and his hands rub against your thigh, making you burn up with the heat of the gesture. they slide towards the beginning of your pants, and you let out a small gasp in anticipation as he teases you, sliding them back while you throw yourself into the kiss, tongue tracing his. it’s a long time before he breaks it, the two of you breathing heavily before he lurches back a little, your feet finding the ground.

“that was, um—“ he begins softly, unsure, before you bite your lip again and his eyes follow your mouth again, his lips parting slightly. you blush a little and look away, noticing still the lack of distance between the two of you.

“i’m sorry,” you break the silence, looking to the side as your face reddens, “i shouldn’t have just gone and pried into something so personal.”

“it’s—it’s alright,” he stutters slightly, “i didn’t think anyone would care that much, to dig that deep into it.”

his face returns back to the oh so familiar smirk he always has on, continuing “and you care about me, don’t you.”

/arrogant prick. “you’re the one who kissed me, lee minho,” you point out the obvious, and for the first time ever, you see pink rise up to his cheeks.

“you did commit treason for me.”

“oh, shut up.”

“make me.”

and you do.

send in requests!

[bnha-hcs]

Baby, come home - Todo x Fem!Reader

Me, listening to Jetpack Blues on repeat: Hello angst my old friend

Gomen for the random update but I had time to kill and I’m trying to get back into the swing of writing because it really has been forever. I was thinking of deleting all the old requests in my inbox and doing a clean slate deal when I come back because I legit cannot remember any of the drafts I started akjdajs. Tell me what you think!!

Anyways here’s a quick little drabble 

- Tiki

Did you ever lover her? Do you know?

Or did you never want to be alone?

And she was singing, “Baby, come home,”

“Baby, come home.”

----------

It was raining. The constant deluge for the past few weeks had Todoroki down in a funk. And to be honest, he’d been that way ever since he left and it was almost as if the weather was mirroring his current state of emotions. Throwing himself into his hero work only served as a minor sort of distraction and instead of taking his emotions out on the villains who dared to cross him, he found himself not even being able to give his 100%. Or even 70% for that matter. His friends and fellow heroes could notice, especially Midoriya, a close friend and ally ever since his high school days at UA. He’d been staying with him for the past few weeks since he was too afraid to go back and face the trouble that he had managed to stir up. To go back to her.

“When are you going to suck up your pride and apologize?” Midoriya asked him, slight evidence of frustration in his tone.

“I don’t know.” Todoroki answered, a tinge of anguish hanging in the air.

“You know, she’s probably not even mad at you anymore.” Midoriya sighed. He placed a hand on the taller male’s shoulder. “If anything she’s probably just worried sick about you.”

“And why would you say that?” He spat.

There was a short silence, Midoriya had moved his hand to his face, a fake look of pondering on his face. The other male looked at him with a quizzical look, almost intrigued and waiting for an explanation. Midoriya sighed, shaking his head before looking him dead in the eye.

“Because I went to visit her last night, after work.” He said, pausing for a moment before continuing, “It was pouring, and I half figured for her to be asleep at that hour.”

“But?”

“But she wasn’t. She was outside in the rain, wearing one of your coats and singing for her husband to come home.” He sighed again, “For you to come home.”

His words had stunned him. There was no was way she could’ve forgiven him after the things he’d done… The things he’d said…. He was suddenly at a loss of what to stay or do. She was no fool, but having lashed out at her he was sure she’d never forgive him. For him to use his flames at her was completely unforgivable and he had been questioning his morals for the past few weeks that he’d been gone. He questioned if he’d even loved her at all… Did he love her or just not want to feel the shackles of loneliness that more heroes this day and age had to bare. Their marriage was still rather new so there was bound to be some rockiness but... not like this. 

Thinking back at all the days he spent with her, the days back when the two of them were teenagers at UA and would sneak out to go split a milkshake under the guise of a study day. All the times he would lie to his father to try and avoid his watchful gaze. She always loved strawberry milkshakes, but to be honest, the drink could’ve been anything and he would’ve been okay with it. Just being able to spend time with her was enough for him. And lest he forget the second year of dating and his father found out about the two of them. He half expected her to have run off after his father threatened to ruin her hero career. But she never wavered. In fact she never cowered under his hateful eyes. And just like then she didn’t cower under the burning gaze of her husband. Her eyes were always steady and focused and matched the burning heat of their gazes with unyielding force.

But thinking back to the scene from weeks ago, he remembered the break in her gaze when his flames licked her forearm. The tinge of fear in her voice when she yelled at him to leave, and the crack when even after telling him to leave she had asked nicely. The, “Please,” coming out like a squeak and the refusal to look him in the eye had him nailed through the heart with a iron nail of regret.

She never said it but he had told himself over and over again.

“I’m just like my father.” He said bitterly. “I know she wanted to tell me that.”

“You know that’s not true.” Midoriya shook his head. “(Y/N)’d never say that.”

He was right, though… She’d never say that. She was never the type to say things like that. Afterall, she made an effort to see the good in everything no matter what and had such high levels of empathy and compassion that even villains questioned their alignments. She was always the type to think out everything before she said it and even as they were arguing she tried to keep her words from escalating the situation any further, but to no avail. He had lost his temper.

“Just go back to her already. I know she misses you.”

So he did. And the pouring rain on the city-scape gave Todoroki a little reprise to wallow in his thoughts. The trek to the house was a little long but that just gave him more time as he looked across the deluge covering the streets. A few people gave him weird glances especially seeing he hadn’t an umbrella though he was too busy to even notice, eyes clouded heavily in a fog of thought. The rain didn’t bother him anyways, the coolness of it allowed him to sober up and try to think of what the hell he was going to say to her. Was she even going to let him in the house? Or even look at him? Recalling the hurt look on her face had him rethinking the whole thing. But it had been weeks and he’d be sorely lying if he didn’t say that he was missing her immensely. He’d do anything at this point to see her smile.

He recalled the pit in his stomach, the same one that’d plaguing him the past few weeks. It was making itself evident more and more as he got closer and closer to the house. The walk down the street was especially painful and he found himself faltering as he ascended the steps to the front gates. The same old fashioned Japanese style of housing gave him both confident nostalgia and piercing anxiety. Gods did he hate this feeling. Opening the gate he made his way to the front door and then to unlocking the door. It didn’t matter that he was soaking wet because he had a sneaking suspicion that she’d be as well. Walking around the perimeter of house he followed the faint sound of her singing. He recalled what Midoriya had told him.

“Baby, come home, baby, come home…” She sang softly.

Hearing her sing with a melody of tears while the rain kept time had him feeling even worse than before. It was if he was a child again, scared to go to his parents out of fear. But he was an adult now and unlike his childhood he has control over what happened here and now. He slowly approached her, herr back facing him as the rain continued to pour over the dark landscape. The only light on them was from the soft glow of the lanterns scattered about.

She whipped her head around in shock upon hearing his approach. The small splash of a puddle gave him away and he stood there like a deer caught in some headlights. Even in the dim lighting he could see her tear stained cheeks which caused him to mentally kick himself for causing her so much grief. He didn’t make a move and wasn’t sure if he even should, so she took it upon herself to rush over to him.

The feeling of her arms wrapping around him and her head burying itself in his chest made him instantly realize just how much he missed her. Feeling her touch like this again was a blessing in itself and he didn’t hesitate desperately clinging back, almost as if he was afraid she’d suddenly disappear.

“I’m so sorry.” He whispered, voice shaking.

“It’s okay.” She said softly, a tiny sob escaping past her lips.

“You came home.”

[pixiescribbles]

Married with a Dragonslayer

Chapter 1 on FF The Mission

Master Makarov gathered a select few Fairy Tail members to discuss a new important mission. Princess Hisui had come to him with a request. There were rumors spreading in Crocus about some large scale dark guilds from the other continent, wanting to establish and branch out in Crocus area. According to one of the informants, there was a meeting set up at a sketchy bar to discuss the matters at hand and where precisely to establish their headquarters. The mission : infiltrate the meeting, discover who the dark guilds are and report back. Simple right? Then WHY did Master have to choose Natsu? He could have chosen Juvia and Gajeel to infiltrate. They were part of a dark guild before joining Fairy Tail, that would have been less conspicuous. Hells, even Evergreen would've done a great job. But Master chose Natsu. I can still hear him say it : "This is an infiltrating mission, you have to blend in or you will be at risk for putting Crocus in danger." I still get sweaty palms thinking about the idea of being among dark guilds. I don't want to mingle in with dark guilds. Don't you know what they do with pretty girls like me? Good thing he hasn't chosen me.

"Lucy! You will be joining Natsu in this job". It''s as if Master could hear me thinking.

"Huh? WHAT?! You've got to be kidding me right?" I feel like sweat is pouring out of every pore. Master can't be serious right?

"ALRIGHT! I'm all revved up! Luce, lets kick some dark guild butts!" I can't believe this. Did Natsu even listen to what the Master was saying?

"Uh, Master. I really don't think I'm the most fitting person to infiltrate really" I've only been with the guild for less than a year. I know we've had some shit happen to us in the past but this is on a whole other level. "And wouldn't it be better if, you know, Natsu didn't go since he always destroys everything? Can't Laxus come along since he knows how to control himself and is super strong?" SHIT! Why did I Say Laxus? Laxus is freaking scary and I'm sure he hates my guts. "Or you know, anyone BUT Natsu, since he really doesn't fit the mission description."

"That's where you come in play Lucy, Master is confident you can keep some ropes on Natsu. You will need his powers if it takes a different turn than the Master predicted" I didn't hear Erza enter the room and her remark startles me. I can keep tabs on Natsu?

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, you guys have been going on jobs together ever since you joined Lu-chan". Wait, why is Levy siding with them?

"Half those jobs ended with us having to give up the reward to pay for reparations due to Natsu destroying everything!"

"Oh come one Luce, it will be fun! You, me and Happy, just as always! I will try not to destroy anything!" He throws one arm over my shoulder and smiles his usual smile. Just look at that confident smile of his. Well, I guess it's worth a shot if even Erza believes he can do it. After finally accepting the job, Master explained that they had intercepted and captured two members of a dark guild called 'Screaming Shadow', an upcoming dark guild, scheduled to meet with the other dark guilds in Crocus. Natsu and I were to go in their place. Sounds like an easy enough job.

"There is one catch to this job. The representatives you are impersonating, aren't just the representatives of the guild. They are also a recently married couple, still in their honeymoon phase". Erza stated in all seriousness.

"SAY WHAT NOW!?" Erza! How can you say this so casually?! I'm convinced this is the first time Natsu and I have the same reaction at the same time. The Master just gave me this look and-..

Ah, the quarter drops. Now I know why they chose us. Natsu and I get a long the best. He's always teasing me and I feel like I'm mommy-ing him most of the time, people often do mistake us for boyfriend and girlfriend. Even Lisanna thought we were an item. Oh god this is so awkward. Natsu and Lisanna were trying to rekindle their childhood feelings since she came back from Edolas. She made it very clear to me one drunk night, that she still has feelings for him when we were having a girls night out for Cana's birthday. Also, I've been on a couple of dates with Grey, and they were surprisingly really fun. It is still in a really early stage and we are getting to know each other better. But if I should believe Natsu, Grey is really interested in me. I need to snap out of this. Natsu and I are friends. We are going to be acting our way through this mission. We totally got this.

It's 2AM and I can't sleep. I've got so many thoughts and emotions running through me. What if Lisanna hates me for this, because she and Natsu are supposed to be an item, although Natsu doesn't confirm nor deny having any feelings for her. What if Grey decides that I'm not interesting enough to date anymore because of the mission. I mean, Natsu and I are supposed to look intimate together. I can't seem to shake my thoughts away. Maybe a bath will help sort my thoughts. As I get out of bed I trip over what seems like a log and face plummet onto the floor.

"Ouch, what the fu- , NATSU! WHY ARE YOU IN MY ROOM AGAIN!" I can't believe this guy! How does he even get in here after I lock all the doors?

"Lucy, why are you yelling so loud? We are trying to sleep here" I hear Happy behind me on the sofa and turn to see him rub his sleepy eyes. I honestly can't get mad seeing Happy like this, and Natsu didn't even wake from me tripping over him. "I'm sorry I woke you Happy, but maybe next time let me know so I don't trip face first over this guy here. Anyways, I couldn't sleep so I'm going to take a bath."

"Are you worried about the job, and how Lisanna and Grey would feel?" This cat is way to observing. "Lucy, I don't think you have to worry about anything. They know it's part of the job, they won't hold it against you. I mean everyone can see that you and Natsu have a special kind of chemistry." I cringe at the word chemistry. Isn't that something only lovers should have? Does this mean that everyone sees us as lovers? I sense Happy dozing off again, so I decide to tuck him in underneath his special blanket I recently bought at one of the stores not long ago. It smells a little like fish and it has a fish on it. It reeks so bad when you're up close with it, but I figured that they crashed enough times already that they should have their own blankets. As I look over at Natsu, I see he already found his in the closet. I giggle a little at the sight of them before continuing my way to the bathroom for my bath. I suppose Happy is right. I'm worrying over what ifs and maybe's.