#despite his dad always having a bit of disdain for him —

[spidrboots]

thinking about angel, alive & in his mafia days. that’s the whole post. im just thinking of him being a smug little criminal before dying. that’s it !

[animeyanderelover]

Tw: Yandere themes, toxic relationship, possessive behavior, obsession, delusional thoughts, clinginess, stalking, manipulation, male reader

Tags: @jamayah @chxxz @leveyani @cynniical @shenryu-sama

Zoldyck family with Gojo-like older twin of Illumi

Zeno Zoldyck

🐲​You'd think that as one of the oldest members of the Zoldyck family, Zeno would act his role as the strict grandfather and drill into you every lesson you need to know as the future head of the family. Instead he has taken the complete opposite role and has settled into being the chill granddad for it is his son's role to lecture you in everything you need to know, not his. Most of the time he spends with you is more comparable to him just hanging out with you, unless he notices that you are slacking off in which case he will show you why despite his age he is still a feared assassin in the world. There are constant jokes thrown back and forth between you two as both of you try to see who can deliver verbally the bigger blow whilst both of you take it without a single grain of salt. Even during missions both of you have together, you tend to see who has the better one-liners all whilst being completely indifferent to the screaming and terrified targets. Silva has voiced his disdain as he thinks that Zeno is being too soft yet Zeno has always stood up. He's a proud grandfather so just let him do what he wants to do with his favorite grandchild. After all your very first word ever was "grandpa", how could he not love you?

Silva Zoldyck

🐺​For all the respect he holds for his own father, the old man is giving him a headache with the way he treats you, his heir. Silva claims most of your time, either training you or teaching you everything you need to know as the next head of the clan. You are his entire pride and he has high expectations for you which he is confident you will live up to. There is especially much time poured into helping you honing your special Nen-abilities of the Infinity and your Six Eyes, skills which he is proud that you have gotten as it only further solidifies you as one of the strongest members of the family. He's aware of the fact that you favor your grandfather though and he knows that Zeno often sneaks away with you because he wants to spend time with you and the GIF I've used is probably the exact same expression he gives the two of you when he catches you. Is he perhaps a tad bit jealous that you favor your grandfather over your own dad? Perhaps, he is rather possessive after all but he would never admit that though his suffocating aura is already indicator enough of his feelings. He's most likely never gotten fully over it that your first word wasn't "dada" and Zeno has never let him forget it either.

Kikyo Zoldyck

🔺​Kikyo has a terrible streak of jealousy and that isn't made better by the fact that Silva and Zeno steal so much of your time for themselves. As a result she is all the more smothering and clingy the moment you are by yourself as she seems to wait for you to be alone like a starved predator and pounces on you the moment neither of the two men are around. This woman is always complimenting you for everything. For your talents, your strength, your caring personality, your looks and whatever else you can think of. There is a tinge of bittersweet melancholy though as she sometimes mourns the time where you were chubby and small and came always stumbling towards her with a happy look on your face. Her little bird has left the nest far too quickly and has grown so independent.... Your kind and caring personality can be easily a trigger of her jealousy though whenever you pay attention to one of your siblings or can't spend time with her since you have promised someone else already that you'd be with them. She always makes a huge clamour whenever the topic of potential partners is involved as no one in her eyes could be worthy of her beautiful baby boy.

Illumi Zoldyck

🤎​For as long as Illumi can remember, you two have always been together. You complete him, he completes you. After all both of you have been sharing the same womb, have shared everything since the very moment the two of you were conceived. It is this mindset that has always pushed Illumi to be surprisingly clingy, your silent shadow that has been trailing behind you ever since the two of you could crawl. From all of his siblings he has always thought that he deserves you the most, perhaps even more than the entirety of the Zoldyck family as the both of you share a special connection as twins. He's casually thrown needles into people's heads when they so much as dared to question whether the two of you are really twins as your appearances are like night and day, silently enraged whenever someone would do as much as doubt just how close the two of you are. He's the one seeking you out even quicker than Kikyo when neither Silva nor Zeno are in sight and likes to whisk you somewhere where he can have the time with you he thinks he deserves more than anyone else. He's tried to scare some of his other siblings away whenever he thought that they were stealing you away from him.

Milluki Zoldyck

💻​Going back to Illumi bullying his siblings whenever they also try to get your time, poor Milluki is the one who gets the most of it, though Milluki has used this fact often to play the victim card to try to coax you into spending more time with him. Activities with Milluki contain munching on snacks whilst playing some video games or watching some Anime and with passing years this guy has installed an entire security system to make sure that no one disturbs him when he has you, his older brother with him in the room. The ony time where he has gotten too scared and let someone in his room is when either Zeno or Silva knock on his door as he knows fully well that they'll break it if he doesn't open it within 3 seconds. Whenever he has managed to make you promise to spend an evening with you, he buys tons of your favorite snacks and prepares your favorite movies, games and series so that everything is to your liking and so that he can hopefully become your favorite sibling. He's even made a phone specifically for you and gifted it to you on your birthday. There are a lot of special apps and features included on the phone, one of them being a very secretive tracker which allows him to always know your location.

Killua Zoldyck

🪀​Killua has been clinging to you since he was a toddler and that hasn't changed much over the years. Seemingly adapting to the strategies of Zeno, Killua is always sneaky when he seeks you out and beckons you to follow him and spend time with him. He's probably one of the few who is willing to share his time with you together with some of his other siblings which is pretty much only Alluka. You've always indulged him though, knowing that there was a certain pressure on him due to his white hair and blue eyes as well. Killua has taken some pride in his appearance though, mainly because people not associated with his family always instantly acknowledged him as your younger brother whilst such recognition wasn't as granted with people like Illumi or Milluki which causes him to act somewhat smug in such given situations. Both of you have a sweet tooth and whenever one of you is on a mission, it has become a sacred ritual that the person buys something sweet before heading home again to share it with the other. The poor boy was heartbroken when you couldn't come with him when he took his Hunter Exam, though you strongly spoke up for him when people like Kikyo were hesitant to let him go.

Alluka Zoldyck

💝​Whereas almost the entire rest of the family has always shunned Alluka, Killua and you were the only ones willingly spending time with her and playing with her. As a result Alluka as well as Nanika genuinely view the two of you as the only people both of them need and really love and Nanika especially grants the both of you free wishes. Okay, maybe not always free. At times there are demands for you such as wanting a piggyback from you, wanting a kiss on the cheek or wanting to be lifted up and spun around by you. Whenever you hear such words coming out of Alluka's mouth you instantly know that both of them want your affection and attention in that moment and you have never been able to deny them their requests, even if you have never used the wishes you were granted in return for something sinister. The room Alluka is kept in is filled with plushies and prettily designed because you demanded it to be that way and whenever Alluka or Nanika want the walls to be painted a different colour or desire a new plushie, you always take it upon yourself to fulfill them their wish and Killua gives you a helping hand for the majority of the time.

Kalluto Zoldyck

🏮​Kallluto has arguably got the worst luck as he is the youngest member of the family and often is brushed over by all of his other siblings who deem that he should wait for his turn. The poor boy is a professional stalker even from a young age as he has spend countless hours watching other members of the family having fun with you all whilst he is deprived of it. He plays the even bigger victim card than Milluki for such reasons in the very moment you call out to him and spend time with him. Whenever you two walk around, he either clings to the sleeves of your clothes or even manages to hold your hand, his head constantly tilted so that he can look at you with sparkling eyes. The insecurities he sometimes feels as a result of being somewhat overlooked as the entire household revolves around you is something he learns to use effectively as an advantage when he wants to steal your attention away from someone else because he knows you'll crouch down and ask him if everything is alright the moment he starts fidgeting around with his fingers and makes himself small. As you are the person he idolises and looks up to, he ends up adapting your likes and dislikes all to feel closer to you.

[stories4eve]

★ THE NEXT GENERATION OF HEROES, PARENTAL DYNAMICS!!★

( excuse me for any mischaracterzations of the beasts... I don't know their characters all that well yet!)

(★ @batshikns ... feels nessecary to tag you in this)

Pure Vanilla + his children.

★ Frozen yogurt, being his first child, already establishes a heavy attachment to each other. He absolutely loves his eldest. No matter how much he grows or how he changes, he will always be there to extend a hand to him and welcome him back into his open arms. Pure Vanilla, however, has concerns about his isolation. He tries to get him to make more friends, introduce him to other cookies, and what not. But he watches as they all misunderstand and leave Yogurt behind all alone. So, he picks him up, holds him tight in hopes that he gets the message that "I will always be here for you." But that isn't always something Frozen Yogurt remembers. When both his children do end up spiraling down, he can't help but still blame himself for not trying enough. Maybe if he had been there with Yogurt during that first revelation, this wouldn't have happened. He's not a perfect parent. No one is. There are times when he messes up, times when he has to look to both Hollyberry and Dark Cacao for help. But one thing will always remain: He will have himself ready for his children no matter what happens to them. He is always ready to lead them back on the path if they stray.

★ Cream Vanilla and him are close enough. She's his little angel. Beautiful little girl, whose smile is as bright as the sun. However, he seems to be too careful with her sometimes, and that can frustrate her. He's careful of what he says, but sometimes that little slip of the truth can hurt her by accident. It's not something that's huge, but over time, it can do something to Cream Vanilla. She knows she's not as great as her older brother, but can't understand why Pure Vanilla can't be honest to her about it.. I mean, it's what everyone thinks, right? But Pure Vanilla believes wholeheartedly that she is capable, just not in what Frozen Yougurt's able to achieve. Elsewhere, she will thrive, and he wants to tell her that, but the misunderstanding of his words is something that sticks to Cream Vanilla because because the mindset she's grown to have. Nontheless, he will love her no matter how much she grows to disdain him or curse him. He just wishes that she would wake up from the lies that she's built to protect herself and see that maybe she too has a chance at a fulfilling life.

Shadow Milk + his children

★ Shadow Milk never thought he'd ever be a father, but now here he stands. Despite all the knowledge he's collected over the years, nothing would have ever prepared him for fatherhood to this extent. He, truthfully, tries his best with Frozen Yogurt. Tries to teach him how to hone his magic, and they do form a relationship. One that's genuine, however, with flaws. Shadow Milk is more pushy with him to certain extents, too weary of him ending up like him someday. And when he finally does, Shadow Milk can't help but wonder - was it his insistence that he get out and really show out, caused this? After all, his son can only take so much, he wasn't born to be alone. With raising him, Shadow Milk takes a little bit of a different approach. With Vanillas' all-too-caring nature, someone has to be there to also be a little firmer. That doesn't change the fact that he loves his son. And when the end of his manic episode comes, when push comes to shove, and all has been said.. Like his husband, he will be ready to welcome him back. Albeit, he'll be a little more scolding, ruffling his hair and shaking his head, telling him to never attempt something like that again, all in good nature, though! He was definitely an emotional parent the very least. Part of him kept the joker side of himself, so trust me when I say that Frozen is tired of the badly timed dad jokes. He knows that he says them to spite him, and that's what he hates. They do love each other though.

★ Cream Vanilla? Oh they were the closest with each other! When she was younger, he'd dress up with her, make puppet shows, and other things for her to enjoy. She truly was his little princess. He sees a lot of Candy Apple in her, and that sort of endears him a little, so willing to learn and understand everything around her. However, he can't help but notice as she got older, she tried to avoid him. Was it something he said or did? Was it because he managed to call her out on every lie she told..? I mean, being his daughter, and him being the master of lies, it wasn't hard to tell-- atleast to himself-- when she was lying. What did she want to lie about anyway? Maybe it was how she truly felt, abandoned.. Not enough, never enough for everyone else? He hates the thought of her self-loathing. Does she even know how much he adores her? How much will he give up for her and her brother? Albeit, he is a little blind to her jealousy towards her older brother, and doesn't understand her reasonings then. When she turns away from them for good, he can't help but feel conflicted. He learns of how she feels truthfully, how she lied just like him to protect herself and others from the world that they live in. He then finds that he understands her, and he will use that understanding to drag her back into the light, just as his other half did with himself.

Golden Cheese + Her children

★ Golden Cheese adores her first son dearly. Her children are her dearest treasures through it all! Goldie is a very involved mother within her child's life. Always checking in, always making sure Pepperjack has enough of everything. She even offered to train him in his combat, seeing as he uses a spear too! She teaches him to hold his head up high, never let the world make you kneel, instead make the world kneel to you. However, she can't help but sense the slight itch of doubt he has. He can't act as tall as he does around her, for she will see it. Golden Cheese makes it her goal to make him fully believe that he is capable of taking on her throne. Leading his people as he should, but sometimes, they can and will argue about it. Pepperjack is too careful. He needs to be bolder. Being too safe will only get so far. He needs to find a balance between the two as she has. Because they're both such large personalities, there's bound to be clashes in between and some distance. In the end, they resolve it through Spice having to convince her to try again with him. After all, that's what she did with Spice. Why not lend a hand to their son?

★ Her and Saffron have a good bond. Not nearly as close as she is with Pepperjack, as Saffron is most definitely more attached to Spice. That does not change that they have a loving relationship, however. She finds his determination to be admirable and his spirit? Just as bright as hers, maybe even more! She's proud of him in a way. However, with his stubborn mindset, destructive tendencies- even if they are unintentional - she is a little worried about his future. However, Golden Cheese will let time work its magic, as it has with her and everything else, and let the lessons he's learned change him for the better. She knows that with enough pushing, she'll get him on the right track. It's just a matter of getting him to listen... Quite honestly, Golden Cheese herself is still new to this whole parenting thing in the end and is trying to learn and figure out this new chapter of her life. As perfect as she tries to be, parenting can be challenging.

★ Kofta is her little mini me, her darling little princess that she spoils to no end. She'll dress her up in the finest of clothing, gift her everything she seems to ask for. Of course, there's a limit, Golden Cheese needs to set boundaries somehow. Kofta is a mommy's girl through and through. They go shopping for things together, they do spa days together - everything! There are points of tension between the two, just your average bickering between child and parent; you know, letting the girl take her own steps, let her be more independent. And sure, Golden Cheese understands that her children will leave the nest one day, but she can't help but want them to stay, at least Kofta to. Pepperjack was independent enough and matured faster than she expected. So it has just been her and Kofta for a while because Saffron will mature as well. Kofta, of course, understands her mothers longing for her children, but does remind her that she will have their father too. Eventually, Golden Cheese will let her go, maybe after arugement or two. Only to find that they will still be her babies, no matter how much they grow. Her precious little jewels through and through.

Burning Spice + his children

★ Spice was even more surprised and even more unprepared to be a father than Shadow Milk was. He was already a little uneasy around children, fearing that he'd unintentionally hurt such fragile things. When Pepperjack was first born, he was oh SO careful holding him, feeding him and what not. He was terrified of ever hurting something he finally created. Eventually, the scare goes away, and he adjusts to have little Pepperjack around. He often teaches him the history of the world around him, how the cycle of change begins and ends, how he has a very large responsibility on his back of upholding it when he's old enough. He tries his best to guide Pepperjack in the way Burning Spice thinks he should have gone before corruption. Teaching him that destruction is necessary for new roots to grow in place. But still, there is that overlooking fear he has that he will fail his children, and in turn, his wife too. Pepperjack and him don't argue a lot about much, but when they do, it does get messy. He kind of has to knock sense into him to try and reconnect with his mother during points of distance, but it's just for his sake in the end. Very much huge papa bear vibes from him <3

★ Spice and Golden Saffron are tight-knit. He teaches the boy how to fight and use an axe or other close ranged weapons! He worries the most about his future, though. Because he recognizes his thinking process, he recognizes that little part of himself in him. So he will sit him down, warn him and tell him that all that he had worked for, all that he has done to better himself would have been for nothing if Golden Saffron looses himself to destruction. He is a storyteller at heart and takes Saffron through the historic ruins of his temples and what not to bond with him. For the most part, growing up, they had a good relationship. Spice would help Saffron with those powers of his.. But the older Saffron got, the more pressure was applied on him, and that seemed to sort of cause a little rift in the relationship they have. Small arugements over outbursts turned into larger disagreements. Finally, everything comes out, and they resolve it through an intense spar. This time, Golden Cheese is the one to smack them both into sense to get along. They eventually reconnect and find peace.

★ Kofta is his pride and joy.. No, literally, he is doting on her from day one. From allowing her to dress him up in pink, huge bows, and telling her exaggerated stories about him and her mother.. Those are some of the better memories they have together. Just enjoying each other's company, Kofta looks up to her father. She thinks he's strong, one of the strongest people she will ever have the pleasure of meeting. That doesn't really change the older she gets. Sure, they turn their hangouts into more mature things-- like sparring or running errands together. However, they do tend to argue over Koftas own ever expanding ego and how she might need to tone it down a little. Other than that, it's a loving relationship between them, probably the one child Spice fights with the least, much to Golden Cheeses pleasure. Overall, she trusts him and looks to him for help, too. She enjoys messing with him as well, as much as she loves him. I mean, sure that gets her chased around, but it's all in good, loving nature between her and her papa <33

White Lily + Her child (and reaction to her untimely death)

★ Nodding Lily was White Lily's little miracle, her blessing from above. She adores her baby girl and finds their similarities in physical appearance, in almost everything so fascinating. She's always wanted to be a mother, wanting to know how it felt like to raise a cookie from the start. So she tries her best to be mentally prepared for her, to be there when she needs it. She absolutely encourages her creativity, and Nodding Lily finds her mothers support to be her stone when creating. They don't argue at all. Rather, they will sit and talk it out because they aren't the type to aruge. Whatever issues they have, Lily and her can resolve through peaceful conversation.. To a degree. White Lily isn't a perfect mom, but she sure is trying her hardest.. As for how she takes Nodding Lily's death? Oh, she's grieving, mourning her every hour of the day. There's a sort of bitterness that grows within her towards the others. How come their child wasn't subjected to Nodding Lily's own self-sacrificing power.. Was it her? Was it her fault that she let her child be pushed to the edge? She only now has her partner and can be seen holding onto them tighter ever since their child died. She had her whole life ahead of her, and now this? Was this how it felt like to loose too..? Maybe she understands the bitterness that Golden Cheese holds against her better now that she's experienced loss of her own. White Lily will leave her flowers every time, hoping that her baby, from wherever she's watching, will understand that she's still looking out for her.

Silent Salt + their child (and their reaction to her untimely death)

★Silent Salt.. How should I put it? Was it somewhat prepared? I mean, they understood this is what White Lily wanted the most, and who are they to deny her of anything? Come to find, they absolutely adore her too. She teaches them how to be more open-minded, stop oppresing certain parts about themselves, and teaches them how to be creative. In return, they teach her how to fight, use her powers, and try to guide her through a path of unity and solidarity instead of the crushing path of oppression. Often, they would be found walking together, painting or doing other things. They have this special spot near the old silver tree, where her and them have planted three lilies. One large purple one, the other a medium-sized white lily, and the last a small magenta Nodding Lily in the middle. Its a reminder that the three of them are a family forever. With the lessons she has taught them, they instill in her that her biggest source of support are the people that she holds close to her heart, and she reminds her to always look to them for everything, including themselves. They, too, don't argue, but they take concern to her, wearing herself out by being too much of a giver to everyone else. Remind her that she still is someone and a daughter to them besides being everyone's doormat. But.. to their utter, utter dismay, they still lost her. Failed her. Let her die, especially when it was in front of them and Lily. They couldn't save her from it, from the slow and painful wilting she took to her demise. They couldn't stop it. Her death was traumatic to her parents. Silent Salt had a hard time coping. They didn't know what to do or how to even come to terms with it. They just held onto White Lily even tighter, trying to keep her close, as close as they could so that they didn't lose her too. They sit in silence at her grave, at that special place they had together. Their silence speaks volumes, though. The wind howls, and it seems to convey the agony they feel. They light candles in her honor and even lay their helmet beside her grave as a reminder that she isn't alone.. even in the afterlife. They will carry her legacy within them, but that doesn't change the fact that she is gone.

Dark Cacao + his daughter

★ Choco Oat and him have such a complex relationship. He sees a lot of him within her, but also not. He understands the need she has to keep her kingdom and her people safe, but wants her to understand so desperately that she needs to stop and take it easy sometimes. But she is stubborn and unreltning, and he is too. That causes frustration that boils down into a huge argument. They also tend to bicker about smaller thing.. Choco Oat never really found it in herself to truly forgive her father for what he's done to Dark Choco. There's that, too. But she knows that he's trying. There are sweet moments between them where she'll climb onto his back as he sits.. filling out documents and whatnot. He'll braid her hair for her or style it when she can. They are still loving, and she has a somewhat better childhood than Choco had. Because he has learned from his past mistakes. He's as patient as he can be with her in the end, but sometimes it gets frustrating to talk to such a perfectionist. He does not understand why she must overthink every minute detail until he steps back and realizes he, too, in a way, was like that. But he cannot voice his sympathy for her without her retalating.. Insiting that she was fine and could handle it on her own. When her powers first came in, he was terrified that she would misuse them and end up like Dark Choco. So, he would encourage her to put its use to a minimum and try her best to repress it. Choco Oat somewhat understands, but doesn't as well.. Part of her wants to be free to use it, and feels slight bitterness about her father's response to it, the other part of her undersands that her and Dark Cacao share a common goal of wanting to protect the kingdom.. And that includes protecting them from her own power, too. But Mystic Flour takes notice of this, and rest assured she and Dark Choco will not tolerate this distance between them. After a long and angsty argument, they finally are honest and open-minded with each other, embracing one another as father and daughter do.. and with the help of Mystic Flour and his son, they build a better bond and learn to be there for each other when it was needed.

Mystic Flour + her daughter.

★ Choco oat and her are closer than she is with Cacao. Mystic Flour understands her baby girl and was actually the most prepared one to have a child as Cloud Haetae is not far from one. Though she has her own fears, she knows that under the right guidance, Choco Oat will turn out just fine. They spend some quality time together, weaving shrouds, tapestrys that tell stories. She often weaves silken robes for her daughter, and most of the clothes Choco Oat wears is from her mother. Because Mystic Flour seems to be the only one who understands her sense of style and comfort at the same time. Mystic Flour and her often pray and meditate together, too. She teaches her how to be a good tender to the pagoda and introduces her to Go and whatnot. As for points of tension, mainly it is Choco Oats' ever lasting perusit perfection for herself. Mystic Flour thinks it is.. well, outlandish at times, but she is not one to outright harshly judge her daughter. She will sit her down and talk to her sternly instead about reconnecting with her father and taking a break once in a while. It's only really up to her if she wants to listen now or later, but Mystic will take a page out of her husbands book and will be patient and unreltning with her. As for how she handles Choco Oats powers, unlike Dark Cacao, she tries and encourages her to use them freely in a safe area. Be in tune with them, channel them so that she too can use it for the greater good. Though Cacao is not fond of the idea at first, Mystic convinces him later on after that argument, and soon enough, Choco Oat will learn how to accept even the ugliest parts of herself. For chosing to be ignorant will only lead her down a path of Apathy.

Hollyberry + her twin children

★ Candied Berry and her? Absolute partners in the more daring activities! Hah, there would even be periods where her and Holly would run off together for a bit, go on a hunting trip for a week or two, and come back with spoils to share! Needless to say, they are very close. Hollyberry has finally found an equal with her for her passion, her bravery, her hope is so inspiring. Ever since Candied was a little girl, she would get herself into dangerous situations most of the time, and yes, that would concern Hollyberry. There are points where Holly thinks she's a little too bold, and that cause tension between them, they either spar it out or have a messy talk about it.. Candied Berry also tends to sort of nag her on taking so much Berry juice in daily.. She loves her mama, but too much is too much sometimes, and Candied wants her to know that! Of course, Holly stops when her children ask her. She's not the type to prioritize her juice over her kids, of course. Eventually, through her help, Holly will cut back on that addiction of hers.. But it's going to take a while between the both of them to help each other improve and be better. Hollyberry is willing to be there for her every step of the way, and she can only hope that Candied finds bravery within herself to face her own inner challenges just as she has faced her own long ago.

★ Sugared Berry reminds her of Royalberry in a sense. She finds his calmness to be equally grounding as her wife's own and finds that he and Eternal Sugar are voices of reasons to her and Candied. However, Sugared Berry is more insistent that his mother should take on healthier eating habits, take better care of herself, and what not. He often feels concern for her, and Hollyberry appreciates that. She too also finds that his burn out days can be rough on him too, and reminds him as well that he is still a cookie as well and needs his own rest periods. They don't find much to argue about, except for days where they just can not understand each other eye to eye.. However, Hollyberry is a good listener and will listen to her sons cries and calls, whatever their current state of tensions are. Also, it is worth noting that Hollyberry is one of Sugared Berry's biggest supporters musical career wise, she's always there clapping the loudest during his performances, and will encourage him to be passionate about it too! No matter how discouraged he may get. She will always be there to remind him to keep moving on and to stay passionate for the things he loves. Because she has been a mother before, and having new children doesn't mean she loses the lessons she learned with her first child.

Eternal Sugar + her twin children

★ One of the ones who are less prepared for kids.. Twins at that. She wasn't expecting two kids, but she would love them both deatly anyway. Candied Berry is much like her wife in a lot of aspects, passionate, brave, bold, and daring. For that, Eternal Sugar feels sort of endearment towards her. But she doesn't know where to start with teaching them anything, what to say - how to lead them to a life of happiness. She often looks to her wife for advice and tries her best to channel it, too. However, for Candied, she finds it harder to connect with her because of her nature being so different from Eternal Sugar's own. She still loves her, don't get me wrong, but there's a clear distance between her and Sugar sometimes that they're trying desperately to overcome, but it seems near impossible at times. Eternal Sugar can't quite wrap her head around the activities that Candied deems fun and was worried out of her mind when younger Candied got herself into situations where... It was near life-threatening. The scoldings she gave were a little firm and assertive, but she only wanted to protect her baby. However, now that that rambunctious child has grown into an even more off the walls teenager, she just sighs and shakes her head... Whatever is Eternal Sugar going to do with her?

★ Sugared Berry and her are extremely close, though. She finds his love for the harp, the lyre, instruments in general to be a lot like her passion for them too! She teaches him how to play the lyre and even the harp, and he has her to thank for his great skills. They definitely sit down and relax together when the day calls for it, and she even gives him little bracelets and necklaces she happens to have found from her old status as a virtue. However, they do aruge a little about his tendency to just give up. She can not allow him to go down the same path of sloth as she once did, and he does not understand what is so bad about slacking off from time to time. It's not as major as most of the other kids' issues.. but it does worry Eternal Sugar a lot, especially because she has never been a parent before and does not know what to expect of this. Do not fret, Hollyberry will help her, ease her worries, and allow her to find a way to communicate her concerns to her children in another way besides incessant nagging. Other than that, Eternal is a caring mother and is good at soothing and comforting her children to a degree at the very end.. Even if she isn't the most educated on the topic of parenting.

[apomaro-mellow]

Mafia Part 1

For the occasion, Eddie was given one of his dad's old suits. It didn't quite fit as well but it would have to do for now. He tied his hair up in a bun and put a hat on top of it. Wayne was dressed similarly and it was like this that they entered the Marini home. Eddie couldn't remember the entire reason everyone was gathering. Could've been a birthday party for all he knew. But being in the main house meant good drinks and a chance to rub elbows with the folks up top. Which obviously meant more money.

Wayne finally let the leash off to go and talk with some of the older guys and Eddie got to go off on his own. He sat with Tonio, a man shorter than him despite being ten years older and Swirly, who looked like a breeze could knock him over.

"Why do they call you Swirly?", Eddie asked.

"'Cause when I stab guys I like to flick my blade around. It's my own personal touch."

"'Personal touch'", Tonio laughed. "You're just a classic narcissist."

"It's art."

"It's ghoulish."

"You wanna talk narcissism...", Swirly trailed off as he took a sip of his drink.

Tonio whistled like a rock falling down a well. He must know who Swirly was talking about.

"Who?", Eddie asked, preferring to stay in the loop.

"The little prince", Tonio sneered.

"Steve Harrington. The boss' son", Swirly provided a better answer.

"Harrington, huh?", Eddie said, just meaning to get a feel for the name but the others must have thought he was asking another question.

"The last boss had a daughter, just an absolute peach of a dame", Tonio said. "But she went and fell for this outsider, Harrington."

"He'd done some deals with us, but he wasn't family", Swirly said. "Until he married into it."

Eddie nodded, getting the picture. "So Steve Harrington should've been Steve Marini?"

"He could've been Giuseppe Alessandro Italiano-Magnifico. Won't change him", Toni nearly snarled, starting to spoil the air with a bitter scent before reining himself in. Eddie was eager to find out how someone so high on this world's food chain had earned the disdain of one of his underlings.

Eddie moved around a bit. Tonio and Swirly were basically footmen. Always in the streets, rarely in the room where the big decisions were made. Eventually Eddie came to a circle of young men closer to his age. Young bucks who were also looking to rise up. Some of them were already related by blood, cousins and nephews. Others were like Eddie, boys down on their luck, doing little jobs here and there for the money. But when you gave to the family, there was always the chance that you could be brought into the fold.

You could be sponsored.

Eddie had heard of it. Heard it could be a grueling process depending on who was vouching for you and for what. Wayne had been sponsored a few years ago. It had been an odd time when he didn't see his uncle as much as he'd been used to. But by the end of it, Wayne was able to invoke the Marini name if need be.

It was power. It was respect. It was everything Eddie wanted. They were seated at a table outside in the backyard where they could be louder. As they were wont to do. Sometimes the conversation switched to Italian, which left Eddie in the dark, but before too long it was back to a tongue he knew.

They started talking about what they'd do to be sponsored and then it turned to what they wouldn't do.

"What if they ask you to be celibate?"

"They're not gonna ask that."

"I heard they made a guy cut off his knot."

"Get outta here!"

"Nah, it wasn't just the knot, it was his balls too."

"They don't want eunuchs!"

"An alpha's only good for his knot anyway."

"What's a beta good for then?"

"Fuck if I know."

That caused both raucous laughter and jeers from the betas in the crowed. And just because Eddie had to be a pot stirrer, he spoke up.

"What about omegas?", he smirked.

"They got holes, don't they?", one alpha said.

"Everybody needs a warm body", a beta answered.

"If they're the right omega they can set you on easy street", another alpha, answered. He'd introduced himself as Tommy. Hagan, not to be confused with Tommy Corns who got caught holding up a pharmacy last year.

"The 'right omega' meaning your omega?", another guy piped up.

"He ain't Tommy's yet. He's still gotta woo him", a different one cackled.

"Aww, you sweet on someone Tommy-boy?", Eddie jabbed.

"I'm not sweet on anyone. Just got my target locked."

"On?", Eddie pressed.

"Who else but the best? Pretty soon, you'll all be calling me 'boss'", Tommy looked so sure of himself.

Ah, so he was after the cream of the crop. Eddie wondered how many of these guys were after Steve. Probably not many if Tommy was openly gunning for him.

Wayne found him and put an arm around his shoulders as he brought him back into the house. "There's someone I want you to meet. Mind yourself and don't get any ideas."

“What? Me? Ideas?”, he grinned cheekily.

“I mean it. We’re here to do our jobs and keep our heads down.”

Wayne brought him before a man in his late forties, thick, dark hair, graying around the edges. Next to him was a young man. Both were dressed in perfectly tailored suits. For a second, Eddie thought that he was being brought before a fellow associate. But he quickly realized these two were far above that. Especially with the way Wayne deferred to them.

Eddie was so caught by a scent that he almost missed what was happening. Lavendar and pine, wafting around him in a way that reminded him of freshly laundered linens.

It was during introductions that he realized. This was the omega everyone was talking about. Steve Harrington.

And he was looking at Eddie like he was a stray dog.

Steve looked him up and down. “You’re the Munson boy?”

“Sweetheart, I think I’ve got a few years on you to be called ‘boy’.” Eddie hissed when that remark earned him a pop on the head from Wayne.

“Please forgive my nephew. He’s not around polite company often.”

“If he’s yours Wayne, I’m not worried”, Harrington Sr. said. “I know in time he’ll prove himself to be loyal and a worthy addition to the business.”

While the older men talked, Eddie’s eyes were glued to Steve’s, who in turn hadn’t looked away from him yet. There was something behind those eyes and Eddie wanted to find out what it was. Eddie knew what it was like when people looked down at you. Steve was doing that, sure, but it was more than that.

It was almost like he expected something to happen. If Eddie were more bold, he would have made another comment. But he wouldn't dare do so in front of such a powerful man. Steve's father, James, could have had him killed with just an order. He wasn't about to antagonize his only shot at a not-shit life.

Eddie would have done so if he could've gotten to Steve one-on-one. But after that little meet and greet, Eddie was taken to talk to other men. And every glimpse of Steve he got, he was glued to his father's side.

Little prince indeed.

Part 3

[yasuosexual]

hello! i may have been binging your posts they're so good-- i was wondering if you could write how the elezen men and thancred would react to finding out the wol is pregnant?

anon you have read my mind! 😳 this was next on my list to post!!! i had another request about naming the baby after them, so that is coming next!

warnings: pregnancy, established relationship, HW spoilers, SHWB spoilers (is that even the shadowbringers acronym…)

THANCRED:

- when you tell him, he is shocked at first— this definitely wasn’t planned. it doesn’t take him long to be overwhelmed with joy, though.

- brings you into a tight hug, but releases his grip as soon as he remembers that his child is inside of you. he doesn’t want to accidentally hurt either of his babies!

- “i’m going to be a dad!” sir you already are

- the first person he tells is ryne, who is elated to hear of the news. the rest of the scions are just as happy to hear that a new baby scion will be joining the league!

- the happiest of all, though, is thancred. he is over the moon with the idea that he will get to have a miniature version of himself. he kisses your tummy every single night and makes sure to talk to his baby. he loves to tell people that his child will be handsome like his father, but inside he hopes it looks just like you.

AYMERIC:

- with all that life has brought for aymeric, a bit of joy was in order. and he was filled to the brim with joy when you told him you were pregnant.

- you hadn’t seen his eyes shine with such intensity since the day you got married. his hands instantly wrapped around your sides as he looked you up and down. you noticed tears forming at the corners of his eyes which you promptly wiped.

- the two of you shared an emotional hug. both crying, for the same yet different reasons. you were both delighted with the thought of becoming parents, but aymeric had more on his mind than that.

- it didn’t matter that his child was yet to be born— aymeric made a promise to himself to always love his child for whoever they are and whoever they want to be. his child would forever be of house de borel. no shame, no guilt, no nothing, because his child is loved, and will forever be loved. and this day, aymeric swore to be the father he never had, and to protect his child no matter what comes his way.

HAURCHEFANT:

- he cried when you told him he was going to be a dad. salty tears of joy streamed down his face as he picked you up into his arms, very careful around your abdomen.

- haurchefant was overjoyed to become a father! he couldn’t wait to welcome the littlest knight of ishgard to his family.

- he didn’t take much time to relish in the thought— he ran right to house foretemps to tell his dad all about it. edmond, emmanellain, and artoriel were all excited to hear the news! emmanellain made sure to ask as many embarassing questions as possible, earning disdainful looks from his father and older brother.

- you didn’t mind the questions, though, and found it quite cute how the brothers fawned over you and their unborn nephew. despite haurchefant being his illegitimate son, edmond was happy to be given his first grandchild. and you were even more happy that your child would have the most loving family.

ESTINIEN:

- estinien is a bit puzzled at first… he coulda sworn that pull out game was strong …

- estinien is a bit puzzled at first… he is going to be a dad… he’s going to be a dad?!!

- after your words sink into his head, estinien cups your face with his hands. he’s smiling, like a complete idiot, and it’s a little scary! but you can feel the intense warmth radiating off of him.

- he pulls you into a hug and spins you around in the air. when he sets you down, he kneels to meet your abdomen. placing one of his hands on your hip and the other on your tummy, he rests his ear flat against you to listen.

- you can’t help but giggle at his gesture as it seems a bit goofy, but he’s actually obsessed with the fact that you’re going to have his child! he jokes that his child will become a great dragon-slaying warrior as he is, and you can’t help but smile and agree.

celly

aymeric’s story makes me so freaking emotional and i could write an entire book all about having a family with him like 😭 i relate to him in so many ways… comfort character moment

also i get that haurchefant’s isn’t exactly lore accurate… personally i’d like to think that if he didn’t die that the relationships between his dad and half-brothers was created/mended … one big happy family 🥺

[bugcreations]

Master post for my most favorite subject when it comes to my MK1 stories - my fankids! They each mean so much to my little hearts in different ways and I'm always looking for ways to make them better, so please ask about them! For now here's the info on them…

🩷Astrid🩷

Age: 17

Sexuality: Bisexual

Height: 5'8

Likes: Fashion design, poetry, "fancy things", the color pink, butterflies, weaving

Hates: Stormy days, dull colors, mint flavors

Astrid, as you can probably guess, is the princess of Outworld! She has a pretty neutral image, some praise her for her fighting talent, polite, charming and witty personality and fashion-foward mindset, while others show disdain for her as she’s a result of a once formerly forbidden relationship, and…she inherits Tarkat.

However, Astrid has a strong heart, and she doesn’t see her Tarkat as a burden or a struggle, rather an obstacle that makes her stronger each time she comes back from overcoming bursts of her infection. She’d rather focus more on the things she wants to do, which involve fashion design, poetry, and hoping to explore Earthrealm and the unique cultures it can offer, something she wants to do a tad bit more than becoming Empress.

💙Mankato💙

(Note this one technically a windwolf fanchild - I HC Fujin to be a girl, and Nightwolf to be transfem in this timeline. Ed Boon dont fuck them up!!!!)

Mankato, otherwise known as Blue, is the definition of crafty and fun! He has autism and ADHD, mainly expressed through his energetic and disorganized nature, and his intense interest in owls! He lives and breathes owls, through art. He loves to paint, draw, sketch and color owls and all in his favorite colors, which are the primary colors.

Blue is pretty much your definition of a “silly little guy,” he’s the heart of gold of the team and also the shortest! But despite his small, sweet personality, he has impeccable fighting skills, which he can put to good use thanks to his mom’s wind talisman! He greatly aspires to be as important and strong as his Uncle Raiden, and wishes to be something like a Champion like him someday. But for now, he’s too busy having adventures with his friends and painting…wait for it…owls.

Age: 17

Sexuality: Gay

Height: 5’3

Likes: Owls, primary colors, soft clothing, sushi (with salmon and avocado only! It’s his safe food), adventure, arts and crafts

Hates: Anything bitter tasting, loud parties, people touching his braids

🧡Nanami🧡

Nanami is a total butch, reckless girl - she’s sassy, brave, and dresses like Adam Sandler. She’s got a big interest in boxing and basketball, and her athletic skills also aid her in kombat. While she definitely struggles with issues like her impulsiveness, her dads’ constant smothering, and her secret insecurities, she doesn’t let that show, as she just tries to do what she wants.

She’s the fighter of the group, she’ll protect them at any costs as she feels the most comfortable around them. If anything were to happen to any of her family and friends, she would never forgive herself.

Age: 17

Sexuality: Lesbian

Height: 5’5

Likes: Tigers, basketball, gaming, blue and orange colors, sports, boxing

Hates: Dresses, flowers, the color green, mushrooms

💚Kung Wei💚

Kung Wei is a bit of the jokester of the team, as he’s cowardly, often talks as if he’s full of himself, and throws himself into rather dumb situations for attention. He’s not a bad person at all though! He just likes to enjoy the wild side of life, and everyone constantly talks about how he’s a mini copy of Kung Lao.

Like Nanami, he too has insecurities, mostly rooted in being compared to all these great heroes in his family and scared he will also be forced into the dangers they have experienced. While his dads try to help him realize he doesn’t have to live like that, Kung Wei has some deep down anxiety that makes it hard for him to think otherwise.

Age: 16

Sexuality: Gay

Height: 5’8 Likes: Animals, food (especially involving shrimp), nature, skateboarding and board games (even though he loses half the time) Hates: Horror movies, lemons, insects, Vaternians (he’s terrtified of them)

❤️Spindle❤️ And now for my most favorite fankid, and makes up a large majority of my stories, my Reivik fankid!!!! Spindle was born and raised in Chaosrealm, so he’s a bit of a unique person when it comes to who he is! He’s a bit socially awkward often, under the impression others don’t trust him, but if he’s comfortable around othetrs (typcially his friend group) then he becomes witty, friendly and very joking as well. His intelligence comes from the ability to observe his surroundings and others in crystal clear ways in order to figure out how he can make others like him, since he always believes they don’t at first.

He may crack jokes and all, but he has the worst secret of the group - a type of curse he was born with, called Flesh’s Teeth. The way Spindle's curse works is like this - Any part of Spindle's skin can open up to create a mouth of razor-sharp teeth with a long snakelike tongue, and his eyes will glow red. Spindle gets much more ruthless, bloodthirsty and Ravenous in this form as due to his curse.He will go out of his way to attack anyone he finds delicious (Relatives are immune to his craving). When he eats his fill (typically 100 - 150 pounds), his nose will start bleeding, he will black out and not remember anything when he wakes up an hour later. His manifestations are spontaneous, but they typically occur every two weeks or so.

Spindle is always living with the fear that he will kill someone close to him, even if not his actualy family - and so he thinks everyone has a right to not like him, and that it is up to him to change it. However, what he doesn’t realize is that he is the glue of the group, and his friends are always there for him, even during his worst moments.

Age: 17 Sexuality: Pansexual Height: 6’0 Likes: The color blood red, hyenas, human anatomy, sewing, the smell of wood Hates: Bright lights, huge crowds, being questioned, tight spaces

[talshiargirlfriend]

🎲4. A kiss to the top of the head

plz and thx 😁

Yay it’s kiss roulette time!

Despite his expressions of confidence in the face of T’Pol’s misgivings, Trip had also been a little apprehensive about this visit. So far, so good, even if he missed the distracting presence of Bert and Owen and of course Earth’s greatest human buffer, Miguel Salazar. Trip’s brother-in-law could keep any conversation going smoothly; he was charm incarnate. It was a skill Trip envied.

People often described Trip as charming, but he wasn’t too sure about that. As far as he could tell he was just genuinely interested in other people and in possession of a streak of mischief.

After an uneventful dinner, Charlie, Elaine, Trip and T’Pol moved to the living room with coffee. As each couple settled onto a sofa, a pair of black and white cats strolled in to investigate the situation.

“Who are these pretty babies? I wasn’t sure you would get another cat after…” Trip trailed off and put his hand down for the cats to sniff.

“Well,” Charlie said. “Our pets can’t stay with us as long as we’d like, but I’ve never regretted a moment of loving one of them.” He cleared his throat. Elaine blinked rapidly and looked away.

Trip could feel T’Pol’s eyes on him. He nodded slowly. “Yeah, I know what you mean.”

“That’s Princess Isabel and the Lady Lilith. Izzy and Lily,” Elaine filled in. Izzy retreated to curl up on the back of his parents’ sofa while Lily sniffed Trip’s hand before turning her nose up at him in a look of feline disdain.

“Don’t be offended. She doesn’t really like anyone but me. Bit like your dad here,” Elaine teased.

As if in defiance the dainty cat rubbed her face against T’Pol’s leg. To Trip’s surprise the animal was rewarded with a gentle scratch behind the ears before she trotted off to curl up on his mama’s lap.

Elaine stroked the cat fondly in greeting. “Well, you like the ladies of the family, Lil. That’s a start. I’m sure these Tucker boys will grow on you.”

“They have a tendency to do so,” T’Pol agreed softly. Trip smirked and bumped his knee against hers affectionately.

The Elizabeth-shaped holes were still there - they would always be there - but they felt a little less… jagged. The gaps somehow formed an integral part of the overall structure.

The evening continued in a similarly pleasant fashion, as the four of them conversed comfortably on topics varying from needlework to neutrinos while the cats snored softly in the background.

Eventually, Charlie let out a jaw-cracking yawn and slapped his hands against his thighs, “Well, that’s my cue to hit the hay.”

Elaine leaned over for a kiss, “Goodnight, sweetheart. I’ll be up in a few minutes.”

“Goodnight, Dad.”

“Goodnight, Charles.���

He stood to make his way out, pausing behind the sofa where his son and de facto daughter-in-law sat.

“Goodnight, kids.”

He leaned down and kissed Trip on the crown of his head as he had done countless times before. He then did the same to T’Pol before continuing out of the room. T’Pol’s eyes went wide in surprise before she swiftly recovered her composure.

Trip bit back a smile and made eye contact with his mom. In unison each gave the other a subtle head shake, clearly communicating “Don’t say anything, you’ll embarrass them” before breaking into matching grins.

His heart felt lighter than it had in years.

—

I considered an angsty little Similitude interlude, but I settled on fluff. As the reigning empress of TnT fluff, I hope this will meet with your approval! 😅 Thanks for the ask!

[victorianitt]

"I feel safe in your arms"

Jim Moriarty/Sebastian Moran, fluff, comfort fic, au

*** Disclaimer - fanfiction translated to English by ChatGPT ***

Sebastian Moran had long since grown accustomed to James Moriarty's strange behavior. The sniper sometimes wondered if Jim suffered from some form of schizophrenia or split personality. His boss could be a criminal mastermind, a consulting criminal in one moment, and the next, he behaved like a child, desperately seeking a moment of closeness.

It was the same now��Jim nestled into his broad chest, wrapping his thin arms around him.

Sebastian set his laptop aside and hugged Moriarty back.

“Jim...?” he asked cautiously.

The smaller man mumbled something incoherent in response.

“Hey, Jim, what’s going on? Is it about that thing with Holmes? I told you he’s not interested in you.”

Moriarty sat up and looked at Moran.

“But he solved my puzzles. Why wasn’t he interested in playing my game?”

Sebastian sighed softly. Jim was still hung up on his encounter with Holmes. Sherlock had made it abundantly clear that he didn’t care about the game Moriarty had crafted but rather about saving the people Jim had used as pawns. Their meeting at the pool hadn’t gone as Moriarty had planned. The consulting detective had deduced Jim’s boredom and obsession with him with disdain. He promised that if Moriarty ever tried to pull him into another game, all Sherlock would do was focus on rescuing hostages, leaving the puzzles unsolved. Sebastian’s boss hadn’t taken it well. He sulked, ignored emails, refused new jobs, and if not for Moran, he probably wouldn’t have eaten at all.

Sebastian was grateful Jim had invited him to his apartment before his obsession with Holmes took over. In his current state, Jim might not have thought of him otherwise.

“Jim, you couldn’t have known. People aren’t always who we want them to be. Sometimes, we have to adapt.”

Moriarty sighed softly.

They lay in silence for a moment, crammed together on the small couch. Jim started tracing his finger along Sebastian’s jaw, watching his reactions.

“Will you tell me a story?” he asked, not breaking his gaze.

“What kind of story?” Sebastian replied, a bit surprised.

“I don’t know... something to cheer me up?”

Sebastian pondered for a moment. Then he remembered how, as a child, his mother used to tell him stories from her own childhood. Maybe that would work?

“When I was a kid…” he began hesitantly, “I once found a dog. It was small and skinny, tied to a tree in the woods, left to die. If it weren’t for me, it probably would have. Luckily, during one of our mushroom-picking trips, my father and I heard barking. The dog was calling for help with its last strength. We untied it and brought it home. At first, my mother was against it, you know?” Sebastian smiled nostalgically, stroking Jim’s hair. “But later, she grew attached to it. The dog became her only companion when my father and I went on mountain trips. Dad loved those trips…”

Sebastian felt Jim stiffen beside him.

“Hey, Sebby…” Moriarty said softly. “You had a wonderful family, didn’t you?”

Sebastian chuckled quietly.

“Yeah, they were wonderful. My mom was a nurse, and my dad, like my granddad, was a soldier. He’s the reason I chose this career path.”

“They were? What happened to them?”

“They died in a car accident. It was entirely random, years after the war. Despite what I suspected for a long time, it wasn’t planned.”

Silence fell again, broken only by the sound of their breathing.

“What was the dog’s name?” Jim asked quietly.

Sebastian laughed, this time louder.

“His name was Queen.”

“Queen? Was it a female?”

“No, though we thought so at first. I named him after the band.”

Jim’s eyes lit up.

“I Want to Break Free?” he hummed inquisitively.

“I Want to Break Free,” Sebastian confirmed. “Didn’t think you were a fan. It’s a love song, after all, and you don’t strike me as the romantic type.”

“Excuse me! My bookshelf is graced with every Jane Austen novel!” Jim feigned indignation.

“Only because you stole them from Sherlock’s apartment,” the sniper shot back.

Jim giggled and snuggled into Moran’s chest.

“I like lying here with you, you know?”

“I... I like it too,” Sebastian replied, slightly embarrassed. “Back to the song—why do you like it?”

“The idea of a love you can’t escape…” Moriarty said quietly. “Even so, I’d like to fall in love like that someday.”

“Wouldn’t you be afraid the person you love might use you?”

Jim flashed a predatory smile.

“Me?”

Sebastian laughed and looked at his boss, grinning.

“Alright, fair point. But I didn’t expect you to be such a romantic.”

“Maybe deep down, I am. Jane Austen, remember?”

“I’d have to see you actually reading her to believe it.”

“Maybe you will... someday,” Jim said, giving Sebastian a tender smile.

They lay together, pressed close on the small couch, smiling warmly at each other. But eventually, their moment of peace had to end. Moriarty sat up and stretched with a sigh.

“Hey, Sebby... will you make me some sandwiches? Please?”

“Got your appetite back all of a sudden?”

“Maaaybe…” Jim teased, enjoying a bit of banter with his sniper.

Sebastian rolled his eyes but got up and headed to the kitchen to make sandwiches.

As he spread butter, the sound of I Want to Break Free filled the apartment. Sebastian smiled widely. He picked up the plate of sandwiches and returned to the living room.

The sight made him burst out laughing—Jim was dancing, raising his arms with every repetition of the chorus. He spun around, facing Sebastian with a mischievous grin, then pirouetted straight into him. Sebastian barely managed to save the sandwiches.

“Hey, Jim! You almost knocked over the sandwiches!” he scolded, though he wasn’t really angry. In fact, he was glad to see his boss smiling again.

Jim grinned, his face close to Sebastian’s chest.

“Sebby...?”

“Yeah, Jim?”

“With you, I wouldn’t be afraid. I wouldn’t fear being used.”

Sebastian froze for a moment, then wrapped his arms around Jim.

“I wouldn’t be afraid either, Jim. I wouldn’t,” he murmured, his face buried in Moriarty’s hair.

Jim tilted his head up, prompting Sebastian to meet his gaze.

“Hey, Seb? Sometimes I feel like kissing you. And you know what?” He paused. “I’ve just decided… I’m going to do it.”

And he did.

Their lips met, and Sebastian closed his eyes, his hands tightening on Jim’s back.

They kissed for what felt like forever, until they were both out of breath. Moriarty stood on tiptoes, clutching Sebastian’s shoulders, pressing as much of himself against him as possible.

When they finally pulled apart, they were both flushed and breathing heavily.

“I feel safe with you, Seb. Safe in your arms. Safe when you hold me, when you’re here.”

Sebastian smiled at the smaller man.

“I know, Jim. And I’m glad you feel safe with me. I feel happy protecting you. It’s my job, after all.” They both chuckled softly.

They stood there, in the middle of the living room, with I Want to Break Free playing in the background, holding each other tightly. Time seemed to stand still.

Eventually, though, Sebastian let Jim go, fed him the sandwiches, and felt a happiness he hadn’t known before. Later that evening, when he came out of the shower and found Jim on the couch with Pride and Prejudice in hand, he wasn’t even surprised. He simply smiled and walked over.

“So it really is Jane Austen. One more step, and I might believe in your inner romantic.”

“You haven’t already?��� Jim quipped. “I’ve been trying so hard…”

“Maybe a little. Throw a ball, and we’ll talk.”

Moriarty’s eyes sparkled mischievously, and Sebastian knew he’d regret those words. Jim Moriarty hosting a ball? It couldn’t happen.

Right?!

[seriousbrat]

What do you make of Lily’s relationship with Slughorn? Slughorn in the series seems to be seen as a bit of a cringe guy, blatantly collecting celebrities and celebrities in the making. With Lily’s disdain for James and Sirius arrogance and entitledness, wouldn’t it be in line with her personality to not think much of someone like Slughorn either? Although understanding he means well, his attitude towards muggleborn talent reads a bit like a micro aggression - would that not bother fiery and independent-thinking Lily? I’d love to read more meta or fics about these two characters, it’s so funny to me that Harry was always almost hyperfocused on uncovering his dad’s memories and identity, and then in HBP, out of nowhere Slughorn comes alone like “Lily Evans gave me will to live” and Harry doesn’t dig deeper??? I’m also curious wether Slughorn ever also acknowledged Snape’s talent for potions or had any curiosity about him, since he was so close to charming Lily. I need to know!!

Honestly, I LOVE Lily's relationship with Slughorn. Mostly because I find Slughorn a very entertaining character to write. I just find his mannerisms amusing so I kind of have a soft spot for him lol, even though I don't think he's a great person or anything. He's not terrible either, he's just supposed to be average. Moderate.

I definitely think you make a good point about Lily's lack of patience for the Marauders, but at the same time I think Slughorn, whatever else he was, was never purposefully cruel and I don't see him as arrogant. Pompous and ambitious, maybe, but also not overly ambitious-- Dumbledore states that he never aspired to personal power but preferred to watch from the sidelines. I think Slughorn represents the casual or 'benevolent' prejudice of the wizarding world, probably the most common attitude among purebloods. He espouses unexamined beliefs about Muggleborns that are obviously bigoted, but at the same time his actions don't fully line up with those beliefs, as several of his favourite students have been Muggleborns, and he deliberately rejects students aligned with the Death Eaters. He's just a moderate, who doesn't examine the world around him because the status quo benefits him.

I do think Lily would have been fond of Slughorn despite all that, because he's generally kind. We only see Slughorn with older students but I imagine he was really sweet to the first years, one of the 'softer' professors among the staff. He was very kind to Hagrid (even though this was partly for personal gain) and also to Ron after the love potion debacle. So I think Lily would have seen him as a kindly, well-intentioned uncle who nevertheless had failings. For the time period, however, Slughorn's attitude would probably have been standard and honestly his inclusion and support of Muggle-born students during the war, even if it was flawed... is still something. I've no doubt that Lily wouldn't have been afraid to argue with Slughorn when she disagreed with him, but he would probably take it in stride, engage with her opinion with good humour and respect even if he didn't share it. He enjoyed and encouraged her "cheeky answers". And that's honestly a much more pleasant experience than someone outright dismissing your beliefs. I can see why they got on, personally.

About Snape: I've no doubt that Slughorn spotted his talent pretty much immediately. And while Lily and Sev were friends, this was perfect- the glow of Lily's personality basically covered Sev as well, made him more likeable by association lol. However, I think while Slughorn was very fond of Lily for who she was, he didn't actually like teen Sev very much. Snape's not exactly a people person, and he was even more disagreeable as a teenager from what we know-- Slughorn likely saw that as an obstacle to success. My belief is that when Slughorn (who I see as a bit of a gossip haha) became aware of the rift between them he automatically sided with Lily and Sev stopped receiving invites to the Slug Club. Slughorn likes talent but he also likes charisma, something Sev lacked (at least in a way that was obvious), and if Slughorn as Head of Slytherin was at all aware of Sev's proclivity for the Dark Arts that would have been a further strike against him.

Anyway! As I said, I really enjoy writing Slughorn lol. I've even considered doing a Wodehousian-inspired Slughorn prequel even though there's no audience for it probably lmao..

[munsons-maiden]

hya lovely maiden!

since you mentioned you read flight of icarus and since you always know eddie so well maybe you can soothe my anxiety a teeny bit?

i fear that eddie is a fuckboy and not a romantic ("not looking to be anyone's boyfriend", the way he likes paige first because of her job and that he jokes about being her roommate that she sleeps with) and it really hurts :(

Hi love! No worries, I got you!🖤

So, Eddie is absolutely not a fuckboy, to begin with; but I'm gonna do a deep-dive into that in a second.

Bear in mind that FOI is the story of how Eddie became the Eddie we got to know and fell in love with in season 4 (it's even marketed as that!) so of course there needed to be room for character growth in FOI - he needed to become that version of himself we see on screen first. FOI Eddie is not yet our Eddie.

Long meta under the cut, including FOI spoilers:

The author's done a solid job painting a picture of exactly the surroundings and situation Eddie finds himself in, and it's a heartbreaking one:

Family: His mom is dead, his dad is severely neglecting him (leaving him with nothing but peanut butter for several days when he's a kid etc. so Wayne jumps in and restocks the fridge and always makes sure Eddie's being cared for). And whenever Al Munson - someone in whose shadow Eddie has grown up; his dad is charming and Eddie feels like he's simultaneously in his dad's shadow AND needs to vie for his love and attention. According to Eddie, everyone loves charming Al Munson and hates him, and the latter part is absolutely true which leads to:

His surroundings. Principal Higgins calls Eddie a rotten apple, and actively wants to force him to drop out of school. Eddie and the rest of Hellfire get bullied - and beaten - by the basketballers on a regular basis. The thing he loves so, so much - D&D - is likened to satanism and frowned upon. Eddie wants to get out of Hawkins and it's absolutely understandable why because this town is Hell for him.

So, now we got that summarized, let's have a look at Eddie's relationship with Wayne, which reminds me of those heartbreaking videos of severely neglected stray cats get pet for the first time in their life. They don't recognize the gentle touch as affection because they've never experienced it before, or they do but don't know how to handle it because they aren't used to it so they get aggressive, they hiss and try to bite. That's Eddie, and the reason for it is self-explanatory: his dad has neglected him, severely so. We'll get back to that in a minute.

Eddie's internal monologue. On one hand, Eddie always thinks that everything good that happens to him is going to burst like a bubble eventually and he sadly is correct. Take the meeting with Paige's parents for example: everything's going well, they really like him, until the subject of "that satanistic D&D club" comes up and they make it clear they think about D&D what the rest of Hawkins; that it's bad stuff. And once again, Eddie's true self wouldn't be welcomed with open arms, only the version of himself he's created to impress Paige's parents (for her, by they way!). On the other hand, has internalised the rotten apple bullshit Higgins and the rest of Hawkins keeps telling him. When confronted with Paige's parents' disdain for D&D, while Paige tries to rectify her parents' opinion on the game, Eddie tells them he "would never want anything to do with that stuff". He's hiding and denying a HUGE part of himself to be accepted and liked, and it feels horrible. And later, when he tells Wayne he's leaving for California to be "better than that" Wayne calls him out on it, connecting the dots that what Eddie means is that he wants to be better than what and who he is now, and it hurts Wayne that Eddie thinks so horribly lowly of himself. Which in return makes Eddie angry because he's hurting, he's the stray cat not yet knowing that receiving affection is a good thing. (It adds to teh explosive mix that despite Al's scheming and narcissism, Eddie still believes - or wants to believe - that Al can be a real dad, they they can be "like a real family". He's not ready to face the fact that the one and only person Al loves in teh world is Al, and - as is very typical in these cases - it's easier to shoot the messenger (in this case, get mad at Wayne for telling the truth) than facing that painful truth. He's getting there by the end of the book, which is a MAJOR step in his character arc, and Wayne is helping him with it. We see the contrast: When Wayne stocks the fridge with vegetables, something nobody has ever done for Eddie, Eddie doesn't react with aggression any longer but the veggies still rot in teh fridge because he doesn't know how to handle that display of affection. It's something he only started accepting and now learning how to do.)

Eddie is hurting, and his - understandably - greatest wish is not only to leave Hawkins behind but prove everyone wrong about him, prove everyone and himself that he can be someone to look up to.

And Paige is the one holding the key to that future.

Eddie genuinely likes her - he swoons, he opens up to her about his mother's death, he agrees to meet her parents to make her happy, he thinks about how he memorizes the feeling of kissing her etc. He isn't - and never has been! - a fuckboy. A fuckboy is someone who uses women to boost his own ego, and that's absolutely not what's going on here.

The two girls he hooked up with pre-FOI were only trying to get with him to brag to their friends afterwards about how it is being with the Freak, which must be a truly hurtful thing to be aware of. Eddie's not using them; they are using him and he lets them in a very relatable "so what, I didn't want to be their boyfriend anyways so may as well get something out of it" way. It's a defense mechanism, and a way to gloss over the fact that it hurts to be treated like that. He's the town pariah, and he knows it, and his coping mechanism is spite.

Now back to Paige. I've seen lots of complaints how Eddie never seems to think about her when he's not with her, how he never mentions her in his dreams of moving to California, but we DO know he likes her, he cares about her, and he likes to be with her; that's evident. And I understand why his priority, the one thing that makes everything else fade into the background, is to get away from the place where he's nothing but a Freak, a victim of bullying from his peers AND the adults alike, where people despise him. But he never, not once, manipulated or used Paige. He asks her for help right at the start, but he was smitten with her even before he knew she was working for a record label. Crushing on her and wanting her help to be free of the painful existence he's forced to lead in Hawkins are very well able to co-exist, and they do. It's Paige initiating every next step between them, but - again - Eddie truly likes her. It's not a burning romance but he's got so much on his plate that I understand why he needs to get out of Hawkins first. Plus, remember that Eddie believes everything good that happens to him will eventually turn to dust, that "his rot is spreading to everyone around him" (that's teh actual book quote). When Paige asks him to move in and he asks "as...?" and she says "A roommate" and he clarifies "A roommate that you sleep with" it's banter, they're both timid and dancing around the label of their relationship. He actually leaves it to her to put a label on what's going on, and she doesn't and neither does he, but when she asks him to meet her parents he agrees and shows up with chocolate and flowers, trying his best to impress them for her. He's not someone who absolutely despises the thought of being in a relationship as log as he's with the right person; it's just not a possibility he's been presented with or deemed possible enough to actually think about, which is relatable. The odds aren't exactly in Eddie's favour (and have never been before, either). It's exactly the arc most romcom male MC's start with. Also: Eddie has been dealt the worst cards so far, has been hurt so many times in his young life - including by the one person who should have loved and protected him - it truly would be understandable if he lashed out, if he'd started mnipulating and using people and hurting them the way he's hurting, but he DOESN'T. Not even at his lowest. When he does lash out - at Wayne, and in the end at Paige - it's in misguided self-defence. He thinks Paige sees him just liek everyone else in Hawkins sees him, he's agonized by it, so he lashes out first before she can deal the final blow without knowing that it wasn't her intent to deal any blows but help him. As soon as he realizes it, he tries calling her to apologize, tries it for days until he figures she doesn't want anything to do with him any longer and his stalking is getting creepy so he accepts her boundaries and gives her space. He's been calling her on repeat, and she's made it clear she doesn't want to talk to him.

As a final point - Joe Q and the Duffers already confirmed long ago that Eddie had a crush on Chrissy and they'd have become a couple, which officially proves that he was absolutely willing to be the boyfriend of the right person.

It's not a happy book, and it's not yet our Eddie, but there's nothing wrong with the younger version of Eddie, either 🖤

(I hope I was able to help and I hope it was coherent enough because I just gone done with a six-hours-statistics-studying-session that's melting my brain like fuel rods in a nuclear reactor 😅)

Also tagging @eddiemunsonsmum because we talked about the book a while ago and I've been meaning to share my thoughts on it with her and I'm so sorry it took me so long to do that and @songforeddiemunson because I'd love to hear Liv's thoughts about it too 🖤

[m1ckeyb3rry]

Endure I: Dolls

Series Synopsis: You and Eren Jaeger have been best friends since the age of two, but the two of you are destined for an inevitable tragedy. The world you have been born into is cruel; it is one where friends are traitors and enemies are allies, one where you find yourself doubting everything you've ever known. In this life, mistakes are fatal, and you must be careful, lest you make one too many.

Chapter Synopsis: You befriend the doctor’s son, Eren Jaeger.

Series Masterlist

Pairing: Eren Jaeger x Female Reader, Armin Arlert x

Female Reader

Chapter Word Count: 6.1k

Content Warnings: swearing, canon-typical violence, sexual abuse (non-explicit), major character death, angst, original characters included

A/N: I caved. Despite the length, despite the way it makes me cringe because I wrote it two and a half years ago…endure is coming to tumblr. It may take me a bit to get the whole thing up so please be patient!!

Your first memory was that of the doctor’s son saying your name. He had tugged at your hair and yanked at your clothes, crawling around you as you sat, waiting for him to stop. He did not stop, but he laughed in childish delight at the fact that you didn’t complain, not once.

“Y/N!” he chortled, poking you in the arm repeatedly. You watched him curiously, and when he began to tickle you in the side, you squealed in protest.

“Eren!”

You don’t remember what happened after that. According to your parents, Dr. Jaeger had come and rescued you from Eren’s clutches, having finished his check up on your then-pregnant mother. Apparently, the small boy had cried the entire way home. Nobody ever told you if you cried. You probably hadn’t.

The doctor and his son had continued to visit you for many months to come. You and Eren became friends of a sort, though it was mostly because you were often kicked out of the room while the adults talked.

“I’m turning three soon,” Eren informed you proudly as you sat on the floor of your bedroom, playing with dolls. He was always happy to play dolls with you.

“Three?” you said, your eyes wide with wonder. “That’s really old!”

“I know. I’m going to have a big birthday party. You can come if you want. My mom is going to make cake, and it’s going to be chocolate, and there’s going to be so many people, but don’t worry! I’ll make sure to sit with you, too,” he assured you.

“Yay! Can I bring my dolls?” you said. He thought about this for a moment before frowning.

“Well, I guess so...but don’t expect everyone to want to play with you. Big kids don’t play with dolls. It’s not mat-ure. That means grown up,” he said, pronouncing the adult word meticulously.

“That’s a really cool word, Eren! Where’d you learn it?” you said.

“My dad taught me! He has this ginormous book that’s like this big with all of these words in it,” he said, holding his arms out to show you how big the book was. You gasped.

“That’s huge! And I guess I’ll bring my dolls, but we don’t have to play if they're not grown up. What do big kids do?” you said, furrowing your brow and staring forlornly at your dolls. Eren shrugged.

“Dunno. We can play with dolls for now, since you like them,” he said.

“Okay! Ready, Sir Eren? You have to come rescue me from the evil dragon!” you said, pointing at your princess doll, which was sitting next to your dog. Merry, the small black poodle, did not even flinch, taking the role of ‘evil dragon’ with grace.

“I’m coming! Out of the way, evil beast! I have to save Princess Y/N!” Eren declared, making his doll fly over to yours. Merry paused in licking his paw to give the boy a disdainful look. Eren made sword fighting noises as he chased Merry away before picking up your doll and giving it to you.

“Princess Y/N, I have defeated the evil dragon and saved you,” he said. You clutched the doll to your chest and gazed up at him with a bright grin.

“Thanks, Sir Eren! I think we should have a party now,” you said.

“With cake?” he said.

“I don’t think we have cake,” you said sadly.

“Let’s go outside and make some!” he said excitedly, dragging you after him before you could protest, not that you would have. Eren was dynamic and impulsive, lighting up the very air around him with electricity, sweeping you up in the current. What could you do but follow?

“With what?” you said. He narrowed his eyes, searching for something and then clapping when he found it.

“Mud pies! We can’t eat them, but they’ll be good for a doll party,” he said, marching over to a puddle and sitting next to it. You did the same, looking at him in confusion.

“How do you make mud pies?” you said, crossing your legs and leaning over slightly to watch his hands as he packed mud into round shapes before handing one to you.

“It’s really easy. You just pick up the mud and roll it around in your hands until it makes a solid shape, and ta-da! It’s a mud pie!” he said. You inspected the mud pie he had given to you before gingerly placing it next to you and replicating his motions.

“Is this good?” you said, showing him one. He held it up to his face and scrutinized it before nodding.

“Nice job! It’s almost as good as mine. But mine are better,” he bragged.

“Oh,” you said, crestfallen, “Sorry.”

“Yours are good too,” he offered when he saw that you were sad, “I just have a lot of practice.”

“Really? You think they’re good?” you said, smiling. He smiled back.

“Yeah! You’re in second place for goodness!” he said. You thought about this for a moment.

“But first is the worst and second is the best. So am I the best?” you said. Eren was perplexed for a minute, mulling this over.

“Let’s just have our party,” he said.

“I forgot about that! Good idea,” you said, bringing out your dolls and arranging them so they were sitting next to each other. Eren began to set up the mud pies, making sure each doll had its own.

“It’s because I’m older than you. It means I’m smarter and know better,” he informed you seriously.

“Will I ever be older than you?” you asked. He scowled.

“No! I’ll always be older forever and ever!” he said, crossing his arms.

“But I wanna be older!” you said. “My papa said we have to take turns doing things, so that means I have to get a turn being older!”

“You can’t. I’m almost three years old, remember? So I’m automatically older than you until you’re three, but then I’ll already be three, see? That means I’ll always be older, so we can’t take turns,” he explained. That was just about the wisest thing you had ever heard in your two years of living, from your nearly-three year old friend, so you begrudgingly accepted it.

“Okay,” you said, dragging out the last syllable of the word, “Can we have our celebration party now?”

“It’s all ready. Let’s have a toast!” Eren said.

“Toast? I like toast. My mamma makes it for breakfast sometimes,” you said.

“No, not that kind of toast,” he said.

“There’s another kind of toast?” you said cluelessly. No wonder Eren was older than you. He knew so much about everything.

“My parents do it with their friends during their fancy big people parties! They like raise their glasses and make a speech to ded-i-cate the party to someone,” he said. That sounded really official, and you knew you had to try it.

“Eren, we don’t have glasses,” you said.

“We can pretend! Okay, I want to make a toast to Princess Y/N!” he said, lifting his imaginary glass in the air and then tilting it back to drink it.

“Why?” you said. He held up a finger to indicate that he was still swallowing before nodding.

“Because! What kind of knight would I be without a princess to rescue?” he said.

“That’s true. Yeah, I guess you’re right! I want to make toast —”

“Make a toast,” Eren corrected you. You pouted.

“Sorry. I want to make a toast to Sir Eren for rescuing me from the evil dragon!” you said, miming the act of drinking the way your friend had.

“Cheers!” he said, and you knocked your invisible glasses together before taking another sip each. Then you burst into laughter, your dolls sitting quietly with their rapidly-crumbling mud pies. The air smelled like flowers and the scorching sun, and the grass would surely stain your clothes, but at the present moment, neither of you cared much, wrapped up in your own world.

“Ready to go, Eren?” Dr. Jaeger said as the adults rejoined you, watching your tea party fondly. You paused to look up at them, and Eren’s face fell when he realized he had to leave in the middle of your celebration.

“Dad, we were having a party because I saved Princess Y/N from the dragon! Can’t we leave in five minutes?” he whined. Dr. Jaeger seemed amused but shook his head.

“Sorry, kiddo, but I’ve got other patients to look at. Why don’t you invite Y/N to your birthday party this weekend? Then you can see each other and finish your party with actual cake instead of mud pies,” he said, patting Eren on the head.

“I already invited her and she said yes!” Eren said.

“Did her parents say yes?” Dr. Jaeger said. You and Eren exchanged looks of horror. The thought of your parents refusing had not even crossed either of your minds, and you immediately turned to your father and mother, who were watching you with soft smiles on their faces.

“Please please please can I go?” you begged them. They looked at each other before nodding.

“Sure, as long as you help with the chores this week,” your father said.

“Yay! Did you hear, Eren, I’m coming to your birthday party?” you said in excitement. He smiled at you, a genuine, wide, bright smile.

“I can’t wait! Bye-bye Y/N! I’ll see you soon!” he said as his father picked him up and carried him off to their carriage. You waved frantically as they faded from view, and from his spot hanging upside down off of his father’s shoulder, Eren did the same, his lopsided grin visible until the moment he disappeared from your sight.

“Seems like you and the Jaeger boy have become friends,” your mother said as you gathered your dolls and flounced inside the house.

“Eren?” you checked.

“That’s right. Do you like him?” your father said, ruffling your hair affectionately. Merry, who had returned from wherever Eren had chased him off to, wagged his tail at you, probably hoping that you had some scraps of food to share. You showed him your empty hands, and he sniffed them before sighing and leaving again.

“Yeah, Eren’s really nice! He’s so smart, he knows these really super big huge words like mature and toast, but not breakfast toast, fancy party toast. I can’t wait until I’m three so I can be like him!” you said.

“Well, you only have to wait a few more months, and then you’ll both be three! And you’ll have a little baby brother, too,” your mother said, rubbing her belly idly. You peered at her stomach.

“Is my baby brother in there?” you said. She nodded.

“He is,” she said gently. You furrowed your brow.

“Hi, baby brother! How are you doing? BABY BROTHER!” you shouted when he didn’t answer. You had the feeling you weren’t going to like this ‘baby brother’ of yours. He was rather rude.

“He’s too little, Y/N. He can’t hear you yet,” your father said, stopping you from banging on your mother’s stomach to get your baby brother’s attention. You froze and gazed up at him.

“Should I be louder?” you said. Your father laughed and shook his head.

“No, I don’t think that’ll help. You have to be gentle and talk quietly to him. You’re his older sister, so you have to take care of him. Does that make sense?” he said. Older. You were older than your baby brother, just like Eren was older than you. That meant you were smarter and knew better than him, forever and ever. Okay, maybe this whole baby brother concept wouldn’t be too bad.

“Do you think he’ll play dolls with me and Eren?” you said. Having a third person meant you could have even more complicated stories. If your baby brother played, you and Eren might even finally be able to act out your ‘three little pigs’ storyline. You had done your best, but it was really hard for Eren to be both the big bad wolf and all three pigs.

“Not for a little bit, but maybe eventually. You’ll have to ask him,” your mother said, sitting down laboriously. Your father placed a comforting hand on her shoulder as she let out a deep sigh.

“Does he have a name yet?” you said.

“We aren’t really sure yet. What are your thoughts?” your father said. You sat on the floor to think about this. Merry crawled into your lap and began licking your face. You pushed him away in disgust before giving in.

“Umm...dunno!” you said, realizing you really didn’t care what your baby brother was named. Merry continued to lick you.

“Oh, don’t let him do that. Merry, off,” your mother said, whistling sharply. Merry got off of you and obediently joined your mother on the couch, thankfully leaving you alone.

“Let’s get you in the bath. You’re covered in mud and dog spit,” your father said, a smile on his face showing that he was not at all angry. You did not whine much, trudging up the stairs to the bathroom to get washed up.

Once you were clean and tucked into bed, Merry rejoined you, curling up at the foot of your bed as was his custom.

“Goodnight, Y/N,” your father whispered, blowing out the candle and closing the door after him. You did not respond, already fast asleep.

The entire rest of the week, you did your best to help your parents with the chores around the house, doing whatever you could to ensure that you would be able to go to Eren’s birthday party. Finally, it was the day of the celebration, but instead of being excited, you were horrified. You had no idea what to get the boy as a present.

“I’m sure he won’t even notice that you didn’t get him anything,” your mother consoled you as you bawled into Merry’s fur about your lack of a gift for your friend.

“B-but it’s his birthday! I have to get him something!” you wailed. Your father wordlessly handed you a tissue, and you noisily blew your nose before handing the paper back to him.

“Don’t worry too much. You and Eren are friends, right? He’ll like whatever you give him, don’t worry,” he said.

Your father had a point, actually. Eren seemed pretty happy-go-lucky. Maybe you shouldn’t focus so much on getting him something that you weren’t sure he’d like and instead give him something of your own that you already liked. That way he would be certain to like it.

Yes, this was a course of action that you were perfectly pleased to follow. Abruptly stopping your tantrum, you shot upstairs, digging through your closet until you could find something of yours he might like.

You didn’t think he would like any of your dresses or skirts, and you doubted they would fit him anyways. Your shoes wouldn’t go on his feet, either, so all of your clothes were out. What, then? What did you own that Eren might want to keep as a present?

Your dolls! You frowned, for you didn’t want to part with them, but it would make your friend happy. They were the perfect gift! You gathered them into a bag and, with one final, sad look at them, closed it and rejoined your parents in the living room.

“What have you got there?” your mother said.

“My dolls! They’re going to be Eren’s birthday present,” you explained.

“All of them?” your father checked. You nodded slowly.

“Yup! He’s three years old, papa, that’s really big! He needs a big present. I think he will let me keep playing with them anyways, so it’s okay,” you said with a shrug. Your parents exchanged amused looks before smiling at each other, a secret smile that meant they were hiding something from you.

“If you’re sure, dear. You had best be off now, or you’ll be late,” your mother said, straightening your navy skirt for you so you looked nice for your visit to the Jaegers’. You beamed at her.

“Thanks! See you soon, mamma!” you said, waving at her as you and your father began to walk down the cobblestone road. You and Eren lived fairly close to each other, it seemed; his house was only a ten minute walk from your own. You skipped ahead the whole way. It was a beautiful day to have a birthday, with the sun shining and a soft breeze threading its fingers through your hair.

“Ay, lassie, now where are you off to?” a Garrison officer you recognized to be Mr. Hannes said jovially when you passed by him.

“It’s Eren’s birthday party! He’s three now, can you believe it?” you said.

“Is that so? Tell the little bugger I said happy birthday, then, won’t you?” Mr. Hannes said.

“Sure, Mr. Hannes! Did y’know I’m going to be three in a few months and then I’ll have a baby brother?” you said. Mr. Hannes put his cup down and squatted so that your faces were level and you could have a proper conversation.

“Little Y/N’s going to be a big sister? This I’ve gotta see!” he said.

“That’s right! I’m going to be older and smarter than your baby brother, just like Eren is older and smarter than me,” you said seriously. Mr. Hannes let out a booming laugh.

“Ah, lassie, I’d wager you’re quite a bit smarter than that crazy boy,” he said.

“But Eren knows so many big words,” you said, unsure of how it was even possible for you to be smarter than your slightly older friend.

“Yeah? He sure has big opinions, I’ll give him that. I swear, everything about that kid is too big for these walls. If one thing’s for certain, it’s that he’s going to change things around here, mark my words. Now, will it be for the better? Well, I just don’t know,” Mr. Hannes said, shaking his head.

“Huh?” you said.

“By the Walls, Hannes, what have you been putting in your drinks? They’re making you all philosophical! Let poor little Y/N go to her party,” a Garrison captain named Mr. Orion said.

“Right! Have fun, lassie!” Mr. Hannes said, patting you on the head affectionately. Your mind was already racing with thoughts of Eren’s birthday celebration and the promised chocolate cake, so you did not pay much attention to the two men, leaving them behind without pause.

“Are you going to knock?” your father said as you stood, petrified, in front of the Jaeger house’s door. What if Eren didn’t want to see you? What if it wasn’t actually his birthday? What if it was his birthday, but he had forgotten? There were so many ways this could go wrong that you were beginning to regret coming.

Thankfully, it seemed that somebody had heard your approach, as the door was opened by a woman with long dark hair in a loose ponytail and warm, light brown eyes. She seemed surprised to see you standing in your nicest clothes, your hair tied back with a white ribbon and a bag in your tiny hands.

“Hello, darling. Is something the matter?” she said, her soft and lovely voice soothing. You blushed lightly.

“Isn’t today Eren’s birthday party?” you said shyly. Her face cleared, and she nodded.

“Oh, yes, it is, but you’re the only one that’s come. I’m afraid Eren’s in his room, a little bit upset. You can go talk to him if you want,” she said, waving at your father, who had begun to make his way back home with a promise to come get you after dinner.

“Which room is his?” you said, looking around at all of the doors, not wanting to walk in on something you shouldn’t see.

“That one, all the way at the end of the hallway. Tell me if he’s being rude, okay? Being upset isn’t a free pass to be a jerk,” Mrs. Jaeger said.

“Okay, Mrs. Jaeger, but Eren is really nice! He won’t be rude!” you said confidently, trotting down the hall to knock on the door.

“Go away,” a muffled grumble came through the thick wood. Well, never mind. You used your free hand to knock again.

“I said go away, mom! I don’t want to talk about it!” he shouted.

“Your mom said you’re not allowed to be mean to me!” you shouted back. There was a thump, and then the door opened, revealing a sullen looking Eren.

“I thought you were my mom,” he muttered.

“But I’m not your mom. I’m Y/N,” you said.

“Yeah, obviously. What are you doing here?” he said. You presented him with the bag of dolls.

“It’s your birthday! Happy birthday!” you said. He looked in the bag before scoffing.

“Dolls? Really?” he said, tossing the bag haphazardly backwards. You felt tears well up in your eyes. How could he have treated your beloved dolls so carelessly?

“They were my favorites. I thought you would like them,” you sniffed. Eren seemed alarmed at your sudden crying fit, and he darted back into his room, neatly organizing the dolls at record speed.

“Sorry! Sorry, sorry, sorry, I really really like them!” he assured you. Your tears instantly dried as you gave him a wavering smile.

“Really?” you said.

“Uh-huh. They’re really cool, but now you won’t have any,” he said.

“Oh. I guess not,” you said. Eren crossed his arms and scowled as he attempted to puzzle out a solution to the now-evident problem. Finally, he smiled as he arrived upon the answer.

“I’ll let you borrow them! That way you can still use them!” he said. You gasped. Eren was, without a doubt, a genius.

“Thank you so much! But why were you angry earlier?” you said, remembering his angry mood when he had opened the door. Eren frowned, a storm cloud settling on his features again.

“Nobody came to my party,” he said.

“I came,” you said.

“Oh yeah,” he said. You both were silent for a second, digesting this latest development. You were here. He was here. It might not have been what he had had in mind, but it was enough.

Leaning over to grab a piece of your hair, Eren pulled on it to get your attention. “Let’s go ask my mom for cake. I’ll bet she’ll give us the entire thing if we ask really nicely.”

“Is it chocolate?” you said.

“Think so. It smelled like chocolate in the house earlier, anyways, so I hope it is,” Eren said as the two of you joined his mother in the kitchen, where she was fussing about some pots and pans. Noticing you, she smiled.

“Hey, you guys! I see you got Eren to leave his room, Y/N. Thank you for that. Now, I heard you were promised cake,” Mrs. Jaeger said. Eren began bouncing up and down in place, and you nodded.

“Yeah, Eren said it was chocolate,” you said.

“Is it? Is it is it is it? Mom! I gotta know!” Eren whined. You were only marginally more composed. In truth, you were as eager as he was to have cake, but you were well aware of the fact that you were a guest in the Jaeger house; what’s more, this was your first visit there. It would not do for you to act spoiled and ruin your chances of being invited back.

“Yes, Eren, it is. Here you go. Make a wish!” she said, lighting the candles on top of the cake. Eren screwed his eyes shut before blowing out all of the candles in one breath.

“What did you wish for?” you said curiously.

“For us to always be friends and never be apart!” Eren declared.

“You’re not supposed to tell me! That ruins it!” you said, scandalized at the fact that he had fallen for it so easily. The worst part was that you wanted his wish to come true, too, but it couldn’t when he had said it out loud.

“Then why’d you ask?” he said, equally outraged.

“It seemed like the right thing to do!” you said.

“I’m sure you can make your wish come true even though you said it aloud,” Mrs. Jaeger intervened before you could continue to fight.

“I guess so. Okay, Eren, pinky swear that we’ll be friends forever?” you said, reaching your arm over the cake to interlock your pinky fingers.

“Yeah, okay, pinky swear,” he said as you shook your hands up and down to seal the deal.

“You guys got covered in icing!” Mrs. Jaeger cried out in dismay. You and Eren looked down at the now-ruined cake sheepishly.

“Sorry, mom,” he said.

“I’m really sorry,” you said.

“I’m sorrier!” Eren said.

“I’m the sorriest!” you shot back.

“Well I’m — I'm — I don’t know! More sorry than you!” he said.

“I’m the most sorry in the entire world!” you said.

“I’m the most sorry in the entire universe, times infinity!” he said. This made you stop.

“Wait, Eren, what’s infinity?” you said. Mrs. Jaeger had given up on admonishing you, taking a rag and wiping down your arms and attempting to salvage the cake.

“The biggest number ever!” he said, accepting a slightly squashed piece of cake from his mother gratefully. You did the same, keeping your eyes on Eren, fascinated with this new concept of infinity.

“Like bigger than one hundred?” you said. He nodded.

“Yeah, bigger than a hundred.”

“Bigger than a thousand?”

“Mhm, yeah.”

“Bigger than a million?”

“Yes!”

“What? That’s impossible!” you said. Eren frowned at you.

“Ask my mom. Mom, isn’t infinity the biggest number ever, even more than a million?” he said. Mrs. Jaeger hummed noncommittally.

“Yes, dear, it is. Now eat your cake,” she said, leaning down to kiss him on the cheek, “I can’t believe you’re three! My little baby’s growing up so much.”

“Soon I’ll be a grown up and I’ll live in a house far away, all by myself. Well, Y/N, you can come too because you came to my party and gave me your dolls,” he said magnanimously.

“Okay!” you agreed, trying to lick the icing off of your nose but failing miserably. Giving Mrs. Jaeger a doleful stare, you reached for the napkin she held in her hand. She laughed and cleaned your face for you.

“There you go. Was the cake good?” she said.

“It was the best. Will you make it for my birthday?” you said.

“If you want. Are you guys done?” she said, collecting your dirty dishes and putting them in the sink. You and Eren exchanged glances before nodding determinedly.

“Let’s go to my room and play!” Eren said, grabbing your hand and pulling you after him. You stumbled but followed as he slammed the door behind you, sitting criss-cross on the floor and giving you an expectant look. You sat across from him, cocking your head.

“What do you wanna do?” you said.

“Dunno. What do you wanna do?” he said. You shrugged.

“It’s your birthday, so you get to pick,” you said.

“Let’s play kickball,” he said.

“In your room?” you said, looking around in alarm. What if you knocked something over and it broke? Then you’d be in trouble. Eren clicked his tongue in irritation.

“No, silly Y/N, outside. But the ball is in my room so that nobody steals it, so we have to bring it outside,” he said, reaching up and grabbing a ball from his shelf and handing it to you. You looked it over before deeming it worthy to play with.

When you got outside, you were faced with two problems. One, there was not a field large enough to play a proper game of kickball nearby. Two, even if there was, you did not have enough people to make teams.

“Now what?” Eren groaned.

“We can just pass the ball back and forth,” you offered, kicking it towards him. He trapped it with his foot and kicked it forwards a few steps. You ran to catch up with him and accept his pass.

“Don’t you find this boring?” Eren said a few minutes later. You shook your head.

“No, not really. Why, are you bored?” you said.

“Maybe a little bit. How aren’t you? We’re just doing the same thing over and over, like animals or something,” he scoffed.

“I don’t mind. I like spending time with you! Even if it’s not particularly exciting sometimes. You’re really exciting all on your own,” you said. Eren kicked the ball at you particularly hard, and it far overshot you, hitting a different kid about your age straight in the back of the head. When he turned, you recognized him to be the son of one of your neighbors, Oskar Zimmerman.

“Hey, Oskar! Can you give us our ball back?” you said. He looked surprised to see you standing with Eren.

“Y/N?” he called. You gave him a thumbs up.

“Yeah, it’s me! Our mothers sometimes have tea together, remember? Now can you pass us our ball or not?” you said.

“This ball? Like the one that hit me in the head?” he said.

“I guess so? Sorry about that,” you said. He looked conflicted before tossing it gently towards you.

“There you go. See you around, Y/N and, uh...what’s your name again?” he said to Eren.

“This is —” you began to introduce Eren, who scoffed and yanked you away by the arm, leaving poor Oskar confused.

“Forget about it,” he muttered.

“You aren’t going to make more friends by not meeting people, you know,” you said, holding the ball under your arm and marching behind Eren.

“I don’t want to be friends with Oskar. He’s a stupid meanie,” he said.

“Eren! Those are bad words!” you reproached. You had been told to never use words like ‘stupid’ or ‘mean’ when talking about people. It wasn’t nice.

“I don’t care. It’s true,” he said. You were torn. After all, Oskar had never been anything but nice to you, yet at the same time, Eren was your friend.

“Wait. Eren, are we friends?” you said, realizing it had never been made official. All thoughts of Oskar were forgotten as you were preoccupied with this bigger problem.

“Yeah, ’course we are,” he said as you placed the ball back on the ground and began to idly dribble it back and forth. Eren smiled cheekily and stole the ball from you.

“...best friends?” you said. You had never had a best friend before, but if anybody deserved the designation, it was Eren. He did not even have to think about it.

“Best friends, times infinity!” he said, offering you the ball again. You accepted it with a firm nod.

“Good. You won’t, like, forget about me, right? When you’re older than me?” you said.

“Duh, I’m already older than you, and I haven’t forgotten about you yet, have I?”

“Oh, yeah. Wanna go play with our dolls?”

“Sure. I’ll race you back home.”

“Hey! You have to wait and say start if you’re going to race, cheater!” you shouted as he ran away, snickering.

Being around Eren was like staring at the sun. Everything about him, his presence and personality and the way he smiled, was burned into your retinas, so that when you closed your eyes, all you could see was him. He was blinding and bright, and yet for all his radiance, he never made you seem any dimmer. His warmth only illuminated you further, his golden glow bringing out the pink in your cheeks and the subtle hues in your irises.

Your birthday came and went. You were three now, the same as Eren. He had not been able to come to your party, disappointing both of you immensely. Oskar had been there, as well as a little blond boy named Armin whose grandfather worked with your father. Armin didn’t like you, or at least you didn’t think he did. He kept to himself, flinching whenever someone came near, so you and the other children left him mostly alone, besides the five minutes you spoke to him to give him some cake.

It had only been a week since you had turned three when your mother went into labor. It was late at night, and you were supposed to be asleep, but your father was running around the house frantically, and the doctor was there, his even tone doing nothing to calm anybody. So you sat in your dark room on your bed, hugging your knees to your chest, wishing it would all be over soon.

The door opened a crack, a beam of brilliant light shining, revealing the doctor’s son standing there, his jade eyes shimmering with childish wisdom.

“What’s going on, Eren?” you said quietly, for if anybody knew what was happening, it was him. He crept into your room and sat beside you on your bed, staring out the window at the moon.

“Your baby brother is being born,” he said.

“Is it cool?” you said. He wrinkled his nose.

“Nah, it’s pretty gross,” he said.

“Yucky,” you said.

“Super yucky,” he affirmed, “The moon is really pretty though.”

“I like the sun more,” you said.

“But it’s so hot. The moon is better,” he said.

“I guess you’re right, but I still like the sun more. That’s okay though! We can still be best friends, right?” you said. Eren laughed.

“Yeah, we can. Oh, hey, I made you something. For your birthday. Since I missed it,” he said, fishing around in his pocket before pulling something out and handing it to you. It was a tiny origami puppy, with a face drawn clumsily on it in black marker. You accepted it gingerly and placed it on your nightstand, taking care not to damage it in any way. Then you turned back and hugged him tightly.

“It’s so cute! It looks like Merry!” you said. Eren delightedly hugged you back.

“That’s what I was basing it off of!” he said.

“It’s so good! I love it! Thank you! I’m glad we’re best friends,” you said. You were interrupted by a scream from downstairs, and you gave Eren a wide eyed look. He seemed unaffected.

“It’s okay. Giving birth is really painful. Your mom’s fine,” he assured you, allowing you to find refuge in his embrace.

“Are you sure?” you said.

“Yup. My dad’s a really good doctor. She’ll be okay, and then you’ll have a baby brother...and then I won’t have to come visit you anymore,” he said, his tone dropping when he realized that once your mother wasn’t pregnant, his father wouldn’t have an excuse to come to your house, thereby ending your friendship.

“Yes you will! You promised to let me borrow your dolls to play, so we have to still visit each other all of the time. You can meet my baby brother, too!” you said.

“That’s true,” he said with a yawn. You mirrored his actions, and he immediately stopped to glare at you.

“Stop copying me!” he whined.

“I’m not!” you said.

“You are! I yawned and then you yawned! You’re copying!” he said.

“’M just tired!” you said, yawning again.

“Then go to sleep,” he said.

“You can sleep with me! Like a sleepover!” you said, taken with your own brilliance and immediately burrowing under your covers.

“I guess dad will take a while...so sure! Okay, goodnight!” he said, diving in next to you and pulling the blankets up over your shoulders.

Your mother’s cries of pain continued through the night until your brother was finally, blessedly brought into this world, though her shouts were quickly replaced with the baby’s wailing. Your parents and Dr. Jaeger were all exhausted as they began to take care of the small child, but upstairs, you and Eren slept soundly. Eren was far too used to his father’s line of work to even care, and you were convinced that your best friend, in all of his seemingly omnipotent glory, would somehow ensure that your mother and baby brother would be okay.

They were both fine. Eren had been right. Well, of course he had been right. He was older and smarter than you. You could trust him. You did trust him.

You shouldn’t have trusted him, but that was something you would not find out for many years to come.

[evietalesmoved]

Let's talk about Chrissy and her relationship with her dad. We always talk about things with her mom, but what does she feel about her dad? Who is he to her beyond a father? Does he care? Does SHE care? Tell us about them.

oooooh , this is such a good one ! my headcanon of laura cunningham is that she has a bit of a spending problem , an attempt to keep up the latest trends in sears catalogs. so it puts a lot of pressure to philip to pick up extra hours at his job. i headcanon that philip works a 9-5 office job , but i'm not sure what exactly. probably insurance, yeah i think that sounds right ? philip and laura met in high school , he came from the cunningham family which they weren't exactly super well off but pretty known in hawkins as a generational thing ( i don't know if im making sense ) ? and then you have laura , who was a pastor's daughter and from a decently affluent family. i don't know if it was necessarily ever love from laura's part , with philip being on the football team and her being considered " popular " herself ? for philip , i think he did genuinely love laura , at least at first. but they married pretty young , basically right out of high school and things weren't always as good as they seemed? laura put a lot of pressure on him for the perfect american dream , and it was a lot of pressure for him to live up to. i don't think chrissy was necessarily planned? but she worked for a little while as a " band-aid " to fix their marriage. and i think for a little while , it did help. at least until laura began not only putting pressure on philip , but chrissy as well. growing up, philip was chrissy's world ! she viewed him as an amazing father , who worked all the time to provide the life that she had. because despite her mother , chrissy does recognize her life was privileged. but i think a lot of her view changed as she grew up and began to see philip for what he was. a lot of his " late hours " ? spent more often with his secretary than his family. he was quiet , ignored / overlooked the abuse that laura cunningham inflicted on their daughter. he never spoke up about it , never protected chrissy from her. he was more content with pretending his home life was fine. if he wasn't working " late hours " , philip was often just found in his recliner in the living room , with a drink in hand. it's where he would pass out. it wouldn't be out of the norm for chrissy to have to wake him up in the morning , to remind him to get ready for work if her mother hadn't already with her shrill screaming. there is clearly no love between philip and laura cunningham , though from an outsiders view it might seem that they're the happiest couple in hawkins ! i think he does love his children , in a weird arms length away type of love. but philip is so miserable in his life , he sees his children as part of the issue ? it's never the life he wanted , at least looking back at things. he was forced to settle down , he was forced into this role because of laura and it's made him miserable. if he didn't have to worry about taking care of them or breaking up their home , he could live the life he wanted. so in a way, he might view chrissy as something of a burden , even if he would never admit it ? so , there is love for his children , but there's also disdain for them as well. it should be more pointed at his wife , but it would be so easy to leave her if it wasn't for the children.

chrissy's views on philip are complicated to say the least. she loves her dad , but knows her dad is an active participant in her abuse. even if her abuse comes from her mother , her father does nothing to stop it. he is either never home to do so , or simply is too far in his drink / pretends it doesn't happen. he'll always be her father , so there will always be that connection there. and i think part of her will always search for the dad she remembers as a younger child, the man who hung the moon and stars ? but she knows now that she's older and sees him for who he really is, that man doesn't exist? veering a little off topic , and more so to our portrayals / headcanons : but i think the more she learns about uncle wayne , the more she realizes what a real father should be like ? the way she sees the care he has for eddie , it makes her long for those days of when she was younger and her father would never miss a ballet recital? it's why he starts to mean so much to her as a father figure.

[faofinn]

No. 26 "Sometimes I get so tired, I don't even know myself."

Seeing Double | Working To Exhaustion | "You look awful."

Exam season was well and truly kicking Jess' arse.

On top of studying for what felt like eternity, Jess was also seven months pregnant, trying desperately to get things prepared for the baby, and trying to find a way to keep Fred's men from permanently ending up in prison. It was a lot, she knew it was, but she'd never been one to shy away from a challenge.

She stood from the toilet, groaning as everything spun sickeningly, the ringing all too loud in her ears. She gripped the counter hard, taking a few deep breaths to let everything settle. She'd just stood up too fast. Had probably gotten a bit dehydrated from the vomiting and lack of eating thanks to the pregnancy cravings, that was all.

After washing her hands, she headed back out, padding to Fred's library. She'd all but moved in there, much to Finn's disdain. Though, after a few days of complaining, he'd ended up joining her, a mix of worry and boredom keeping him by her side. While she read, laid on her back with her head in his lap, he tried mentally planning for the baby, but nine times out of ten, he only ended up more stressed, choosing instead to study her face, a smile on his own.

"You've got a stupid grin on your face. What're you thinking about?" Jess dropped the book, looking up at him.

Finn had the decency to look sheepish. "Nothing. You. The baby."

"God, you're a sap."

"Yeah, I know." He leaned down to kiss her on the nose. "But you wouldn't change me."

She hummed. "Oh, if I had the chance…"

"Jess! That's mean."

She laughed, pushing herself upright. "I know."

"You're meant to be nice to me!"

"Actually, it's the other way around. You're supposed to be nice to me."

"I'll be nice to the baby."

"I'm carrying the baby, you have to be nice to me too!"

Finn stole a kiss from her cheek. "Want something to eat?"

"What are you offering?"

"Whatever dad can make." He admitted with a laugh. "Or a takeaway."

"Ooh, I could do a takeaway."

"Yeah? Why don’t you pick something? I'll go see if anyone else wants anything." 

Finn headed off to find the others, though had barely been gone a minute before he rushed back. "I'm gonna have to go out with Dad and Fao. Mum's gonna be here, and Tai's next door, but Hars is coming with. I'm sorry, we can get one when I get back?"

Jess smiled sadly. "Of course. Just be careful, okay?"

He hugged her close. "I'm always careful. Love you."

"Love you." Jess echoed, watching him go. 

Alone again, Jess returned to the books, grabbing a few more and setting up at the desk. She might as well make use of the time. Midnight came and went, but there was no sign of the boys. Sheila had made tea for the pair of them, and Jess had long been in bed, but she couldn't sleep. Despite the exhaustion that had crept into her bones, she'd barely had half of a good night's sleep in a week. She tossed and turned, struggling to find a comfortable position. The baby kept kicking whenever she almost found a moment's peace, immediately waking her from the slight doze she'd managed.

After several hours, when the sun had started to peak over the horizon, she gave in. The library had become her second home over the previous few weeks, so of course that's where she headed. She made herself a cup of tea as she gathered the books, glad Fred hadn't skimped on home comforts. 

Biscuits picked up too, she curled on the sofa and started her note-taking once more.

"Jess? Jess." 

She startled awake, immediately on edge. A blush covered her cheeks as she focused on Finn, reaching to wrap her arms around him. "You're home."

"Of course I am." He pressed a kiss to her hair. "Have you been here all night?"

She shook her head, stretching out with a wince. "No, I went to bed."

"Did you get any sleep? You look exhausted."

"Gee, thanks Finn." She shot back.

"I could have said you look awful." 

She slapped him good naturedly. "Finn!"

"I said I could have!" He protested, but quickly softened. "You do look exhausted though. Did you get any rest?"

"Maybe? I must have, I came down here earlier, you woke me up." 

"You didn't look comfortable in the slightest." He admitted. "I was worried about you. I am worried about you."

[system-architect]

Inquest rattos ask!

Plex~ #4 and #6 Kai~ #3 and #9

answered 4 for plex in the one i just posted !! :D

What would they be doing if they had never joined?

TOUGH QUESTION.. but frankly i think.... plex would basically just be doing the same thing he is now, except not in the inquest lmao. he'd just find some other sort of krewe that needed tech support so he could have a job. even though the inquest has definitely been.. uh.. harrowing for him, i think he'd actually be a bit More depressed than he is now, if only because being in the inquest correlates with him having a Personal Goal to work on (tracking down his dad..) and he's also met-- for better or worse-- interesting people in it who have given his life some excitement.

plex has a great inner need to track down his father and some of the huge personal mysteries that overshadow his life, and that motivation is Why he joined the inquest to begin with, so even though he's a "worse person" for having joined it, imagining a universe where he doesn't have that inner drive to begin with is kind of rough. he'd stagnate and just be a permanently anhedonic min wage guy forever i think (as opposed to a permanently anxious min wage guy!)

-------------------------------

How and why did they join in the first place?

ahaha. oh man. kai is a massive idiot who got into a staggering amount of gambling debt to the very, very shady owner of a rata suman casino, and simultaneously pissed off his father who refused to bail him out, and so despite being reared as a spoiled little nepo baby who almost had it good in the consortium, he got hardcore kicked out and forced to learn the cost of milk. he happens to not be good at thinking but VERY good at punching, and the inquest is ALWAYS hiring + close to where he lives, sooooo

Current Inquest agents: Their least favorite aspect of their job.

well. technically it's having to work with other people who Aren't fellow enforcers-- his feelings about this vary heavily depending on what lab he's been assigned to (he's been transferred a lot), but he has a general disdain for any inquest officer or scientist who's a bit too big for their britches and seems to have an overt need to be the biggest most serious importantest scary guy in the room. cannot stand that type. he'd like to be able to be in the background behind them making little :V :| :V motions with his hand whenever they talk, if only that doesn't risk getting bopped with a magitech stun baton.

on the Down Low, he does still have a shred of his humanity (asuranity?) left, and he does not generally Prefer when enforcer duties require doing things like restraining test subjects, particularly the asuran kind. he's become good at stuffing down his feelings, and he'll do it, but he'd simply rather be off fighting beasties, intruders, or chasing around arcane eye agents like tom & jerry.

[arsenalgbt]

there’s so much to touch on in the new chapter but there are some small stuff that i didn’t get to mention in my comment!!

kai referred to dec as the dog’s dad… and though he was still a bit hot and cold with the dogs, dec is kinda growing to them and growing to the idea of being their dad (or being a dad in general!!!) question is, has kai always referred to dec (in relation to the dogs) that way, or has this changed over time?

also i NEED to know what the hospitalisation is about… it seems crucial to their relationship’s development!!!

also dec rarely ever talking or seeing kai’s family (leon especially) mirroring how kai is not close with leah either!! it would be interesting to see dec meeting leon irl later and how that might pan out hmmm

and lastly, and i’ve been thinking about this since reading the chapter… is dec a pecs (tits) person… and might we see something with it as kai gets more plump when he gets more preggers……..

😭

best believe kai has always referred Declan as his dogs' other dad OK!!!!! despite Declan's obvious, apparent, gigantic indifference towards his kids 😭 they're both insane about eo imo!!

the hospitalisation, thanks to kt anon iktr I have the most logical painful reason why LMAO wait for it~

oh man... yeah I love writing kids, so Declan and Leon. imagine Leon expressing his blatant disdain at the one who's taking his kai awayyyyyyyyyyy

CRYING YEAH UR CORRECT. but! it's more like! Declan KNOWS kai never means it whenever he whimpers at him to stop playing with his sensitive nipples, remember, so. like! Declan loves making his husband feel good. he will become a tits person if he has to! as long as kai is happy ya feel me!!!!!! like I said they're both insane about eo 😭😭😭

[maneaterwithtail]

Despite the fact he's often playing Big Brother in manyerase Batman kind of I think projects a lot of the ideals of his father on him but without the necessary amount of self-created cynicism

One aspect I only learned later was there are actually 2 incidents that develop Bruce into the grim hero that he is

They were actually also used in Batman Begins which really showed how much they had a love for the character and redeveloping him

Before he lost his parents in the alley he once fell down a pit where he was terrorized by bats

Ever since that moment he to some degree or another could never truly trust that the world was a safe or good place or that people could truly keep him safe that he could truly rely on others

The night in the alley just sort of cemented something even worse

The world is a terrible place and he has to make it right it won't get right unless he makes it that way

So there's that inherent distrust that he has even in safety and security what's weird is his father actually does in both Batman Begins and at least the second hand telling I heard Rescue Bruce

But at the same time Thomas Wayne is something of a more ambiguous figure I suppose to a pure Paragon

I think most split the difference in the sense that he may have been a good man but he was very much a man with deep-seated flaws and issues

Struggles with substance abuse possibly untreated by polarism or more accurately self treated by polarism

Attendance to be given to easy solutions I suppose to actually put in the effort that was necessary to make sure that the right thing was being done

And of course he goes along with various criminal activities on the basis of it's good for him

Martha still tends to retain a more angelic Halo

Though sometimes it's question whether or not she was quite as loyal or good as she was this especially came up I think around the time that they emphasized that Kate king was jewish so on some level the fact that she 21 degree or another betrayed her tribe/family in order to end up with the rich lanes and never made Bruce jewish himself i can see how that sort of hopped along

To relate this to Clark and Superman Bruce simultaneously can't help but see the negative side to almost anything Clark does but at the exact same time projects purity on him that's better than the one that he holds for his parents

Whenever he fails he projects all the disdain anger and disappointment that he feels for his parents for failing him

But in many ways hes even more ideal than his father helping save everyone and saying there is a pure good there is light

As such he views almost any sign of weakness as pretence from Clark or an unbelievable Is immature weakness

And yet at the same time he wants to protect that because it means that he won't become like him

So he simultaneously gets to protect his dad guide his dad and criticize his dad

While at the same time again treating Clark in some ways like an annoying kid brother or dumb a** cousin

Also don't miss Leah classism

To 1° or another I think Bruce has always had a bit of contempt of those he sees as Suffering beneath or at the very least being in those circumstances he has contempt for those circumstances period but he has compassion for the people

But at the same time I think it's saying something that he wants to fight crime I suppose to do forward constant charity work

As well as the iconic "criminals are superstitious and cowardly lot."

That's probably the inherent darkness and Batman you can't lose it was very common especially early Golden Age to treat crooks as basically scum that you got to punish in order to feel good about yourself period the iconic Superman Karo's head isn't a rescue it's a bullying

A bullying of a mafioso yes

But it's still very much a bullying

Needless to say this got dropped as time moved on with the character period personally I prefer in adaptations or any remakes that this not do so keep the smug self-righteousness and it happened grow to the more measured Nice guy persona as he starts to interact with people as is period

If you're worried about losing the audience just remember that while he was doing things like bullying mafioso's he was also jumping into buildings with t The real killer or guilty party to force a mayor in order to sign a pardon to stay in execution

Or even tearing up a slum in order to force a proper rebuild

Oddly enough you can start him out i'd say as the equivalent of say a modern day self-righteous advocate but he ain't no slack to this but at the exact same time show how this can sort of blow back on him possibly by if not creating supervillains then then they're taking advantage of the gaps to his simple straightforward solutions

This would allow him to make the mistakes that make him realize holy s*** that's not the way to handle things and I get more with a kind word than I do with a iron fist even if I direct it correctly or with good intention

Now admittedly this is a very risky move showing good intentions turning out wrong even when he intends the best is probably the worst kind of Superman story especially as whenever people do a Clark versus Bruce set up that's usually what's going on

But I think the infants shouldn't be on and then someone else puts him in his place and shut opens his eyes but that he learns through doing and development

Also feel this would work with him as an American icon America isn't perfect because we got everything right out the gate it's because we allowed ourselves the ability to both transfer power and have a living document to develop and move towards goodness

That would make him a true progressive character because he would start with a sense of Justice that he would act on and then progress to different means and method of trying to do the right thing to reach out to people

But at the same time is a mistake Stone just go away or can be blamed on a third party or more accurately he can do that and if he does what's going to be the result of it?

What if he in his print mode lets a false claim take a very guilty party who's causing very well problems?

It turns out he let him into an abusive system like mental healthcare or prison or what have you

Simply put I think Superman's perfection shouldn't be that he doesn't make mistakes it's that he's ever refining his actions to a good outcome and never writing things off period she doesn't go lazy or easy but he fights the never-ending Battle for truth then Justice then the American way

Or if you like I probably do it backwards first you're trying to make his community America better

Then he's trying to get Justice

Then he realizes full truth and how much work it is to both do those things and thus does it the other way get to the truth find the Justice and better America

Sorry about the tangent but I really was wanting to get these thoughts out

Hello! So I recently got into batman, and I’ve been slowly climbing my way up my reading list while also browsing through tumblr in search for metas about him, which is how I found your blog, and I really enjoy your metas!

I have a question though that won’t leave my mind, yet I also don’t want to stop my current reading list to jump into another series (JL), so I hope you don’t mind me asking this question to you instead 🙏

Basically, I’ve been wondering whether Bruce has opinions about Clark in relation to his self—Bruce’s self? So far from what I’ve read, Dick is (excuse me if the wording isnt exactly accurate, but just as a sums up) “the one that brings the light to Bruce’s darkness & the ideal self—the best of him”, whereas Joker is “the mirror to his self—the him that ‘what could have been’, the him who took different route”, and I wonder if there is a similar thinking/opinion about this self thing from him @ Clark too (like some sort of parallels)? I’m sorry if it sounds confusing 😅 Thank you!

Welcome to the fandom! Thank you for the kind words, glad you've enjoyed what meta I've put out. Hope you're having a fun time with Batman comics.

Oh Bruce definitely has opinions on Clark and Superman in general, in relation to himself. Though I have to make the note that in no way was Superman intended or built as a narrative foil for Batman's character, a "mirror self". Dick and Joker are characters who populated Batman's world from early on and were always meant to say something about the protagonist. Superman is a protagonist onto himself; he was created before Batman, and his popularity was actually a big factor contributing to Batman's creation. But that doesn't mean these two characters haven't grown together and influenced each other in a myriad of ways.

On a surface level, you've got the... grumpy one/sunshine one dichotomy. Superman is brightly colored and more emotional and fights in the light to bring people hope. Batman is enshrouded in darkness and stoically represses his emotions and fights in the night for justice and vengeance. One in the light, one in the shadows, one alien, one human, the "boy scout" and the "bad boy"... Even though they work together and are both on the side of good, these contrasts between Bruce and Clark are easily noticed by both others and themselves, and have led to conflicts on more than one occasion. But the way this translates in Bruce's head, to approach it from the angle you mentioned, is probably best summed up by the following pages... which I'm putting under a cut since this gets a bit long. Spoilers too I guess, for the Rebirth Batman run (if you haven't gotten to it yet).

Batman (2016) #36

"He's a better man than I am. [...] Who am I, compared to him?" And this is no way a new sentiment for Bruce:

Batman: Hush

Bruce doesn't see himself as a good person. He's capable of risking people's lives, of blackmail, lying, torture and manipulation, of unbelievable brutality and violence in the service of what he believes is his Mission. But he sees Clark as an inherently good person; as an ideal that he himself is not capable of ever reaching, of ever being. If I were to summarize only the projection aspect when it comes to Batman and Superman's dynamic, I'd say it's this one-- Superman is the hero Batman wishes he could be, but not one he'd ever try to become, because he believes himself fundamentally incapable of it. If as you said Dick is someone Bruce relates to and sees parts of himself in, but better (in trying to help Dick he retrospectively tries to help his child self), Clark isn't that. Superman is less of a mirror Bruce actively acts on, and more of a... negative. Clark is technically an alien, and yet in many ways he's more "human" than Bruce, having grown up with a loving family that Bruce wishes he had. Where Bruce tries to rise above the humanity he sometimes sees as weakness, both in emotional and physical terms, Clark is someone who's already "above" humanity, and yet yearns to be part of it. Moreso, Bruce envies Clark's sheer god-like power, but he knows that he doesn't have Clark's good character; that if he had this kind of unstoppable power, his need for complete control would drive him mad. Which actually happened one time, in Superman/Batman (2003) #53-56.

That being said, as is noticeable even in the pages above, this can result in Bruce putting Clark up on a pedestal, and idealizing him a bit too much, to the point of forgetting that Clark is a person too, with flaws and weaknesses. And not just that... the more ruthless and calculated side of Bruce never truly stops seeing Clark's power, both as something he can wield and something that can be turned against him (hence the hoarding of kryptonite and the contingency plans, in case Superman went bad). Perhaps Bruce's attitude more generally is illustrated best in this very recent moment:

Batman (2016) #128

Superman as Earth's greatest hero, and its greatest weapon. And Bruce is willing to risk his life to preserve that, because by comparison, he isn't these things. (And because Clark is his friend.)