#didn’t have any for inkling bc.

[rallentando1011]

hi! Saw the inbox was open, and wondering if I could slide in with a rise donnie boy x readerone-shot..

So essentially- donnie is STEM smart right? What if- what if reader was the opposite, like lit/history smart? Like, reads a lot, and almost never puts there book down, even when people talk to them (puts it down for donnie and gives him their full attention tho-) knows a lot about almost any point in history and adores archeology. (The only thing they understand when donnie goes science mode is biology.)

And so what if- what if reader, who's oblivious to almost everything and is a huge hopeless romantic bc of ✨️books✨️, decides to try and come up with ideas to ask donnie out in a more STEM way? But like, before they can donnie sees the list and is just like "smh ur math is atrocious/aff" and then fluffy stuff yaknow??

Lol sorry, went on a tangent. Anywhizzle, love ur writing! Don't forget to take a break, stretch and get some food and water if you need to!Have a good morning/evening/night!!! :))

U + Me = Date?

(this took a minute, but it’s such a fun and sweet request that I had a wonderful time with! Tysm, and please make sure that you’re taking care of yourself as well! Enjoy! Request guidelines are located here btw) Word Count: 2371

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Everything on earth has a niche, a designated function it gets to act out, a role it gets to fill. The Cape May Warbler, Bay-Breasted Warbler, and Yellow-Rumped Warbler have the top middle and bottom of a spruce tree to eat in, respectively. Humanity has its niche of expansion, whether it be out through the globe or up in towering metropolises.

If you had to specify your niche, it would just about have to be reading. Now, of course your life is filled with numerous aspirations, but your multifarious interests can all be classified under your affinity for books.

Any form of literature, thrillers, epics, romance novels, they all did it for you, enveloped the entirety of your attention in an immersive world.

That was without a doubt: they entertained you. 

At least, they made you feel inspired to do things, take action in your personal life, possibly commit to confessing certain feelings to a certain softshell turtle. Actually committing to the bit, though, was a completely different story.

In the extensive library you had under your belt, there were many a meet cute and innovative confession. However, just because it worked out in literature, it didn’t mean that you could actually do it. What if it ended up weird or cringe or downright friendship shattering?

The status quo was comfortable, subsisting off of shared time in your turtle-in-question’s lab, the two of you simultaneously performing your own tasks. You would sit and enrich yourself with a book, Donnie would tinker until he had something that piqued his interest, which happened rather frequently, and your attention would suddenly be on him. It was simple. It worked. Taking action could complicate things.

So, your inspiration remained squandered by doubt, an inkling of hope staying concealed internally.

At least, inspiration wouldn’t make anything occur unprompted, and, luckily, that nudge came swiftly.

Earlier, as you were straight chilling in a cozy bean bag chair in the lair’s living room, you saw Donnie enter the room out of your peripheral vision. However, he only seemed like a purple blur because your attention was on the thick, dense book sitting on your lap. The cover was of a similar slickness and feel to that of a textbook, the size was as well, but this read was solely for entertainment. The content could practically be summed up as history of the entire world, i guess but fleshed out with more anecdotes and primary sources.

You had been soaking in a finely written excerpt entailing early hominid tool use, accompanied by an image of a related artifact, when you felt a presence leaning over your shoulder. You opted to continue your train of thought through the lines until you heard a familiar timbre clear its throat behind you. With a sigh, you placed a finger on your spot and faced one Donatello.

“Something the matter?” You blinked slowly.

“Oh, nothing,” he shrugged, expression seeming intentionally cool, “just checking out the book choice for today.”

You lifted the book from your lap to display the contents to him.

His eyes skimmed over the page before he grinned slightly. “Ah, prehistoric archaeology? I could dig it.”

You pursed your lips, trying to keep your thought from spilling out of your mouth before ultimately giving in to your amusing whims. “Leo ahh humor.”

Donnie gaped. “Gasp, you wound me. I rescind my statement and shall not be partaking in any archaeological reading-slash-discussion with you.”

“I’m just messing around, ‘Tello. I can dabble in some crude wordplay.”

“Crude?”

“Crude. Heck, I’d bargain to say that was more archaic than the sector of human history I’m in right now, and they don’t even have wheels.”

He raised a curious brow, visibly less offended. You could work with that.

“Rather intriguing. Care to join me?” You patted the ample space on the bean bag next to you.

Curiously, he stared at you, then the space you were offering, and back, before slipping beside you.

“Care to enlighten me on this subject?” he parried, and with a grin, you were off, describing the main theme of the page, the early development of primates and humans, as well as outside archaeological examples that you knew of, the whole nine yards.

As you rambled on, you locked eyes with him occasionally, and his eyes were intrigued saucers every time you did. It made something in your brain click.

He played along with your banter. He was sitting right beside you, absorbing your words so vehemently and genuinely and ohmigosh this guy of all people wouldn’t judge you for trying something that could be weird. Heck, he’s a fanatic of oddities, anything mystic or scientific, so if he didn’t like you asking him out, at the very least he’d admire the effort. So, you were inspired to try something, finally take some action.

You were going for it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You set to work on your asking-out endeavor as soon as you arrived home.

At first you tried looking at STEM-related pickup lines.

Sardonically, of course. You wanted something that got your point across without seeming too vulnerable, something you could play off in the scenario you got completely and irrevocably rejected.

“I less than three you… That’s not that bad,” you scrolled through the results of your search, perched at your kitchen table.

You only made it down the list to ‘the square root of all my fantasies is you’ until you actually needed to call it quits on that route. There was a fine line between being intentionally corny and the monstrosity that was that line.

So you took the next completely logical leap: concocting a page full of intricate mathematical and scientific questions, the answers of which spelled out an encrypted message.

It was the sane thing to do. 

4  1  20 5          20 15 13  15  18  18 15 23 ?

D  A  T  E          T   O   M   O   R   R  O  W ?

You scribbled the message on a scrap piece of paper. You entertained the idea of writing a whole sentence, but just these two words covered the gist clearly and concisely. Plus, coming up with questions for only two words was enough to melt your brain.

“Limit as x approaches sixteen of the square root of x… equals… yeah, four. That works,” you mumbled. “One down,” you sucked in a deep breath, “eleven to go. Crud.”

The next few hours blended together aimlessly, riddled with just about every mathematical scenario you could conjure up. Sure, derivatives and Planck’s Constant and the unit circle (the bane of your existence) were all ambitious topics to have on the totally inconspicuous worksheet, but, to quote a phrase, go big or go home. When in Rome also works.

By the time you reached ungodly hours in the night, you had curated a functional way to surprise and ask out your best friend. With your brain oozing out of your ears, you put the paper somewhere safe and collapsed face down on your bed.

You would have mentally prepared yourself to give him the paper tomorrow if not for the calculus-derived headache already splitting your mind.

Instead, you immediately dozed off.

You could deal with the minutiae of tomorrow… tomorrow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day when you waltzed into the lair, he was conveniently seated at the desk in his lab.

“Heya D! I come bearing gifts.” You presented him with the paper as coolly as you could, keeping all the panic and nerves internal, and took up the chair beside him.

“A calculus sheet?” He grinned. “You shouldn’t have.”

After a moment of looking at it, however, his eyes dimmed and smile lessened. “...You shouldn’t have.”

You faltered. “Oh, gosh, is it that bad?”

“Which letter corresponds with negative one?”

“What?” you exclaimed. “Oh nononono no, I checked my math like five times, it’s not even possible-”

“The derivative of cosine theta is negative sine theta. Not positive. Simple mistake, really. It was a valiant effort of- whatever you were trying to do.”

You blinked, smacked your lips. Well, that was the end of that. You would just take your leave and move out of the city and change your name and never feel anything again. Easy.

“Just forget I did anything, forget this paper exists- like, what paper even?” You reached for the sheet of paper only for him to use the mechanical extensions on his battle shell to hold it out of your reach.

“No, my interest is piqued,” he smirked. You could almost feel the mischievousness emanating from him. “I will gladly continue, if you do not mind.”

You complied and sat stiffly, anxiously glancing about the lab, until you saw him pick up a utensil and start marking on the paper.

“Are you correcting it with a pen? Are you seriously grading this right now?” you muttered. You weren’t mad, just thoroughly panicked.

He stopped writing momentarily. “What? No, not grading, per say. This is just how I’m deciphering this.”

You knew that tone and you knew that was a lie. 

“I- ugh,” you flopped your head down on his desk and closed your eyes. “Just tell me when you’re done fixing it. I spent a needlessly long amount of time on this just for it to be terrible.”

He didn’t deny that it was terrible, though you excused that to him being busy and hopefully not him agreeing.

Although, with how quickly his pen was scratching marks on the page, the latter seemed more feasible.

You focused on taking deep, steadying breaths, relaxing to the sounds of the busy pen until it suddenly stopped.

Lifting your head from its place, you saw he had completely stilled, staring at the paper with wide eyes and upturned lips.

“What? Did you spot another comically egregious mistake?” you mumbled, halfway intrigued.

He took another few seconds to answer you. “Something like that.” And with that nothingness of an answer, he started writing again, much more fervently.

“Okay then.” You went to put your head down again before he slammed the paper down before you.

“Boom! Here is the revised and finalized version of the worksheet,” he grinned.

You narrowed your eyes at the comments about your inability to include units, corrections on when something was supposed to be negative, but the markings at the bottom of the page were what caught your attention the most.

When you looked at the corner of the page, you saw an odd combination of zeros and ones. 

01101111 01101000 00100000 01111001 01100101 01110011 00100000 01110000 01101100 01100101 01100001 01110011 01100101 

“Actually, what is this?” You gestured to the code.

“It’s my response.”

“And you had to put it in binary?”

“You’re the one who wanted to talk in codes.” He sounded frustratingly nonchalant.

“Yeah, but-” you considered asking him to directly tell you, but maybe this was slightly less nerve wracking. Ripping off the bandaid be darned, you took the coward’s way out and pulled out your phone. “Man, I let you get away with way too much stuff. Has this interaction not dragged on painstakingly enough?”

“The greater the hardship, the greater the reward,” he commented with a shrug.

That pleasant surprise of a response made you copy the ones and zeros faster into the binary decoding website you’d searched up.

Just as you had everything in and your finger steadied over the button that would tell you what he was saying, you hesitated, steadied yourself with a deep breath, and hit it.

Nothing could have prepared you for the rush of adrenaline and euphoria that washed over you at seeing his answer.

“Ohmigosh, you’re serious?! Because you cannot be joking like this, Donatello.”

“As the plague.” One of his hands rested on his chest, the other was in the air as if taking an oath.

“Haha, yes!” you cheered, spinning the desk chair you were in. The late night and headache had paid off, and it felt great!

“So, where am I accompanying you tomorrow?” He mused.

Immediately, you paused. You’d only spent time thinking about the part where you ask him out, not the actual going out part.

“Where? Uhh, I hadn’t really gotten to that point of the planning stage.”

“You were too focused on biffing a math paper to actually plan out its intended purpose?”

“Yeah, not my brightest decision, nor my best work. It was a rather dumb decision on my behalf.”

“You are a dum-dum, but just because of how needlessly complex you made this, not because of your mathematical errors.”

“I genuinely don’t know if I should take offense to that or not.”

“Maybe you should be thinking about where we’re going tomorrow? Just a thought.”

You clicked your tongue. “Fine, uhh coffee?”

“A little trite for a first date, no?” Donnie propped his elbow up on the desk and rested his chin on his hand, smiling widely.

“Okay then, coffee and we go to the library?”

“Don’t we normally do that anyway? What about it makes it a ‘da-”

“Donnie, I am running on fumes from making the erroneous atrocity that is that worksheet last night. If you don’t have any suggestions, coffee at the library works. If you have a contribution, go right ahead.” You put your hands up in surrender.

Donnie’s smugness faded slightly and he lightly nudged your elbow. “Coffee at the library sounds great. And for what it’s worth, I appreciate that you tried to do something innovative. It was truly a highly admirable effort.”

“Thanks, D.”

“Of course.  But from now on, let’s leave the math to the professionals.”

There it was again: the sass.

“Oh, that’s a low blow.” You shook your head, still smiling.

“A low blow would be mentioning how you confused the natural logarithm for a standard logarithm. You see, when you have e to the power of…”

The corrections and banter flourished on from there, the both of you giggling and getting mockingly, lightheartedly angry with each other.

Despite your interests in different subjects, the two of you understood each other. It was wonderful to have a partner that you could be niche with wherever and whenever.

It was almost worth all the math and science it took to get there.

(I actually made inconspicuous math worksheet that reader made for Donnie, and it is linked HERE!)

[of-a-chaotic-mind]

Curiosity Part 1

Summary: Reader wanders into a sketchy part of the city and curiosity is her greatest temptor.

TW/CW: None that I know of. Reader x Mafia/Vampire!Colby Brock eventually.

Requested?: Nope

A/N: This started as a creative writing prompt and somehow turned into an imagine bc I have nothing but Colby Brock on my brain lately lol.

A/N: Fucking adorable little shit.

Y/N's POV

As the sun sets over the harbor, the lights of the city came on, one by one. I shiver, pulling my thin hoodie tighter around my body. I know it’s stupid of me to be out this late, especially in this part of town, but I need to. It began as a need for fresh air but has since turned into a need for adventure. Everyone around me always said this side of the city was dangerous and I want to see it for myself. As I wander the dimly lit streets, eyes scanning for any signs of danger, I begin to think everyone is being dramatic.

I'm not scared in the slightest. My plan is to take off sprinting toward my apartment at the first inkling that I'm in trouble. I'll be fine, right?

I might have been fine had I not wandered down that one street that led me to that one section of shipping containers that led me to that one alleyway. I jump as a smooth voice speaks from the shadows, “What’s a pretty thing like you doin’ out here?”

I look in the direction of the voice, knowing I should run but curiosity keeps my feet cemented in place. Dropping my face into a disinterested gaze, I respond, “Just getting some air. How ‘bout you?”

From the darkness emerges a tall, blonde man, “You’re brave aren’t you?”

I force myself to stay calm and look into the blue eyes of the stranger before me, “Depends on who you ask,” I shrug.

The stranger tilts his head slightly and grins, “He’s gonna love you,” he mutters to himself but I still catch it. My heart leaps to my throat at the seemingly ever-growing grin on his face as he steps closer, never daring to drop eye contact and I can’t seem to look away either. “You’re coming with me, Princess,” he states before turning to walk back down the alleyway.

My feet follow of their own accord. No matter how hard I try to turn the other way and take off running, my body won’t cooperate. I scan ahead of me, trying to discern where the man may be leading me but all I can see is dingy brick walls and busted trash bags. Finally, he speaks again, “Here we are,” stopping in front of a decrepit door with a rusty “keep out” sign hanging front and center. I try and fail to speak as he knocks a pattern into the wooden door.

Promptly, it swings open revealing another man, this one smiles at me and bows, “Come on in.” As I step across the threshold with Blondie following closely behind, I can’t hide the shocked look on my face, swearing I saw fangs on the man who welcomed us in. Shaking my head I mentally deem it an alternative fashion choice and return my attention to my surroundings. Muffled, bass-filled music can be heard from behind the walls around me. Somehow, my feet seem to know exactly where to take me.

The black walls of the hallway are covered in all kinds of spooky and music-related memorabilia. The plush deep purple carpet is a striking contrast to the darkness of the hall. As I round a corner, the room opens up into a sort of speakeasy. I stop in my tracks as the group at the bar pauses their silly antics and turns to look at me. I can feel the urge to bolt out of the room once again but one of the bar patrons calls out, “Whatcha got here Sam?”

The blonde stranger I met what seems like hours ago steps out from behind me and toward the bar, taking a seat, “Found her wandering around the container yard. Didn’t immediately bolt like the others typically do.”

The previous speaker raises his eyebrows in shock before plastering a big, bright smile across his face. My heart does a quick flutter as he watches me and with a few snickers around the group, it’s almost like they heard it.

He doesn’t speak again for quite some time which allows me to fully take in the group before me. The blonde who had brought me in off the streets, now known as Sam, orders a drink from the bartender before nudging and whispering to the one who had welcomed us in, who laughs heartily before shifting his gaze to the one staring me down. This one looks almost devilish yet so charming in his purple button-up and black leather pants. The chain necklaces he wears brush his exposed collarbone and the rings adorning his hands send naughty thoughts through my mind. I shake my head before taking in his striking blue eyes and dark fluffy hair. These men look nothing like what everyone warned me would be awaiting me on this side of the city.

I'm pulled from my thoughts as the dark-haired man speaks up, “What’s your name, Sweetheart?”

My throat is dry and I struggle to keep my voice steady as I speak up, “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Several in the group chuckle including the main speaker who replies, “I would. That’s why I asked.” His voice is deep and velvety smooth. The kind of voice that could rile me up but still talk me to a peaceful sleep as well. There is a hint of mischief in his words and yet he remains gentle.

“That’s for me to know and you not to find out,” I state, sounding braver than I feel. I find myself wanting to melt before this man and I don't even know his name yet. Feigning disinterest once again, I add, “Can someone kindly show me to the exit?”

The man before you looks at Sam with an impressed expression on his face, “Quite brave isn’t she?”

Sam looks at me and shrugs with a smile on his face, “Depends on who you ask,” the call back to before unknown to the others but sticking out clearly to me, “Or at least that’s what she says.”

The other man looks back to me, “Here, I’ll go first. My name is Colby. Your turn,” he motions to me before taking a sip of his drink.

I mentally debate with myself between lying or telling the truth before landing on, “(Y/N).”

Colby tilts his head and grins at me, “See, that wasn’t so hard was it?” The door greeter whispers something to Sam which draws Colby’s attention away from me immediately making me want it back. Colby gives the man a disapproving look, “Jake, you know we can hear you, why bother whispering?” Jake simply shrugs.

I yawn and stretch my arms above my head, “It’s getting late, I think I’ll be going now.”

In the blink of an eye, Colby is right in front of me tilting my chin up with his thumb and pointer finger to lock eyes with me, “That’s entirely your decision but I think you and I both know you’d rather stay.”

Despite my racing heart, my voice remains disinterested and steady, “What makes you think I wanna stay here in this dingy speakeasy when I could be at home in my warm bed getting some shuteye?”

Colby grins, “Because you’re too damn intrigued to leave now. You haven’t taken your eyes off me since you walked in and don’t think I didn’t notice these pretty lips pout when I looked away from you,” he marks the end of his response by brushing his thumb over my bottom lip.

My heart skips a beat at his actions and the fact he saw right through me makes me want to give in completely. I don't. I step back and turn toward the door instead, “I’ll just see myself out.”

Colby’s hand drops to his side as I hear Jake laugh behind me, “She didn’t deny his statement.” I exit the building successfully despite every bone in my body screaming at me to turn back around and run into his arms. Despite my heart feeling a little heavier, I make my way back to my apartment. As I crawl into bed sometime later, I replay the night’s events in my head. I can’t seem to get Colby out of my head and unbeknownst to me, he can’t shake me from his thoughts either. I promise myself that I won’t go looking for him again but that’s a promise I'll soon break. Curiosity might’ve killed the cat but satisfaction brought it back after all.

Masterlist

More Colby Brock Imagines

[skzooweemama]

Tickle Fights with SKZ!!

(Hyung Line)

~~~

hello beautiful people! i have made my return to writing on tumblr! ik a lot of you won’t know that bc i am not tagging or mentioning my main acc, but it is merely the truth! anyway, i’ve been into t-word stuff for a whileeee and i wanted to try my hand at it!

have my headcanons!

(ps. pretty sure these can be either platonic or romantic so just use that imagination)

~~~

Tickle Fights:

Chan:

- so gentle, but might instigate the fights

- you’ve seen how he is with the boys… like c’mon now

- really likes when you get goofy with him, which is usually what leads to these fights

- you’ll both be giggling about something, him (and you?) doing the excited hand flaps when he can’t help but poke at your tummy

- if you’re ticklish, he’s not stopping, coming in with more gentle pokes and prods to keep you laughing

- if you’re not, he sits there for a good second processing, wondering why you didn’t laugh

- perfect time for a counterattack fr

- he’s plenty ticklish himself, so even if he’s getting you good (unless he has you completely pinned, which doesn’t happen a lot), you can still get him back

- his sidesss literally they're so so bad

- please tickle him there and don’t stop until he’s begging

- you pretend to count his muscles sometimes and it drives him actually insane

- too much of a gentle giant to actually do anything abt it though (other than trying to get you back)

- lots of dramatic “ahh!”s and his squeaky laugh

- STAMPY FEET OMG

- honestly, satisfied with the fight as long as you’re laughing (whether it’s from being ticklish or giggling at his cute reactions)

Lee Know:

- annoying.

- ANNOYING.

- he actually doesn’t start these fights a lot, knowing he’s just as ticklish as (or even more ticklish than) you are

- however, whenever they DO start, the foul play… it’s rampant

- he likes to cook for y’all, and you like to bug him while he does so

- a lot of the time this looks like back hugs that allow you to pepper kisses along his shoulders while he’s chopping vegetables, which is slightly annoying but nothing to seek revenge over

- however- if you ever get the inkling to sneak your arms around his waist and quickly dig your fingers into his ribs (which tends to happen sometimes)

- watch out.

- one day, this is exactly what happens. he’s cooking, you come up behind him and tickle his ribs and he lets out a squawk of laughter

- by the time he turns around, you’re already hightailing it out of the kitchen

- he lets you get away, deciding to go after you later

- will use any sort of method to trap your limbs in order to tickle you without fearing retaliation (and if you’re not ticklish… well i’d recommend getting him good)

- blanket burritos, pinning you under his body weight, pulling your shirt over your head suddenly

- you name it, he’s done it

- tickle fights between the two of you may last for days, with each of you trying to find away to one up the other’s previous revenge attacks

- usually, these culminate in the biggest wrecking session and the shame of the loss is enough to end the fight

- i wish i could say this was a 50/50 split, but honestly… you lose most of the time

- god gives his hardest battles to his strongest soldiers 🫡

Changbin:

- definitely more soft than lee know, but can still be incredibly annoying

- just in general, not even with his tickle fight tactics

- he usually inadvertently causes the fight to start, however

- he’s loud, just like all the time, 24/7

- sometimes you just want him to shut up, just for a little while

- and though making him laugh isn’t technically making him be quiet, it’s a welcome alternative to whatever other sounds he’s making

- as soon as he opens his mouth to parrot one of his little bits for the 30 millionth time, you strike

- this is how most of your tickle fights start

- he tends to have short, choked laughs at first

- if he can get away, you won’t hear his true laugh

- however, if you can get him defenseless, he’ll start his cute cackle immediately

- his chest is the best place to attack if you want this to happen, just make sure he can’t swat at you

- he will get you back as well, just a warning

- those muscles aren’t just for show, you know

- he isn’t ever mean or sadistic, he just likes to hear you laugh and if his jokes aren’t doing that, his hands will have to do

- he’s so soft

- I LOVE HIM

Hyunjin:

- drama king. king of drama.

- the MOST dramatic.

- you could have accidentally brushed his side while passing him in the hallway while the two of you were doing your own things and he’ll let out a loud “AH!” and clutch his side like he’s been shot

- really, he does too much.

- yes, he is that ticklish. yes, you want to exploit it.

- sometimes you’ll come with him while he practices choreography, and if he’s getting too frustrated with himself, you have the perfect solution

- when he’s groaning and pulling his beanie over his eyes after a mistake, you sneak up behind him and quickly massage his hips

- he shrieks, trying to step forward to escape you, but you take the opportunity to grab him around the waist and wrestle him to the ground

- you can get in some good tickling on the way down, especially when his beanie is still over his eyes

- his laugh is very screech-y, less a laugh and more a scream

- however, once he’s got his sight back, he’s gonna try to turn the tables

- hyunjin definitely is the type to get weak when tickled, but his long limbs can be good weapons

- be careful to avoid blunt force trauma from them swinging around

- once the attack is over, he doesn’t actively try to get you back (but if you put yourself in a compromising position… rip you)

- he does hold a grudge though so he prepared for some more dramaaa

- will probably demand food and affection as payment for your deeds

[elainsgirl]

SJM wrote HOFAS after ACOSF and Azriel emphatically says he doesn’t have a mate. Gs say that it’s because he doesn’t trust Bryce and is trying to protect Gwyn? That’s such a ridiculous argument. If he wanted to be with Gwyn, he could. Their trope would be nothing more than friends to lovers. There’s absolutely nothing against them getting together. So, even if Azriel had lied in HOFAS, we would’ve seen Nesta giving him a “look” for lying about his mate.

Let me get this straight:

Az not saying Gwyn is his mate = awww he cares about Gwyn so much & wants to protect her identity

Azriel not telling Bryce that Elain was the one to stab Hybern - He doesn’t want to acknowledge her achievement bcs that ruins his perception of Elain & proves she doesn’t need him which Azriel hates bcs he sees her as someone that needs protection and coddling. (yeppp this an actual argument antis have come up with)

I don’t even think one can argue with that logic bcs its so stupid and misinterpreted from the context.

Gwynriels like to say Gwyn and Az will have a healing arc, as you mentioned they’ll become friends then eventual lovers (another trope stolen from elriel) GAs also claim that Azriel has officially moved on from Elain, ending elriel and by the end of acosf there are some feelings between him and Gwyn…I think its logical to assume that by the time HOFAS takes place, hypothetically there should’ve been some development between gwynriel to the point of Az at least knowing he has feelings for gwyn or an inkling that she may be his mate, Nesta who is constantly around gwyn & Azriel (even in a gwynriel book, Nesta plays a huge role) should have at least by now, noticed that Gwyn and Az are into each other (it didn’t take her long to figure out Azriel’s feelings for Elain) yet when Az says no to having a spouce or partner, Nesta could have at least snorted or as you mentioned give Az a “look” - anything to hint to us ACOTAR readers that there is something actively going on in Azriel’s love life. Yet since we get nothing…months later is there still no development between Gwyn and Az? If so, why?

Their story is straightforward with the way gwynriels spin it. Rhys forbade Az from Elain -> Az will be a good obedient boy & obey his HL, dissolving any feelings he has for Elain (already happened pre-gwynriel book) -> gwyn and Az spend time together -> BAM! They confess their love, accept the bond and become mates.

If HOFAS overlaps with acotar 5 - then Gwyn and Az should be at the “realising they’re madly in love” part - so even if Az didnt want to reveal Gwyn was his mate/partner, Sjm could have shown Az hesitating before his No or Nesta teasing him with a smirk, literally anything bcs there’s nothing stopping them from developing feelings, Elain certainly isn’t the issue.

All we get from HOFAS is that Azriel’s love life is stagnant…leaving the impression he isn’t over what happened with Elain.

[inkysquelched]

Them.

I drew my bozos and there’s nothing you can do about it. Now get ready for a long post as I talk about my headcannons for them. Feel free to ask me anything about them, I love rambling:

Agent 3: Has a major RBF, but she’s nice I promise you. She’s been enjoying her role as captain but was overwhelmed at first.

Weapon preferences: shooters, chargers

Fave Special: Splashdown

Agent 4: Just vibing honestly, she’s gotten pretty good at hacking/research over the years.

Weapon preferences: daulies, brushes

Fave Special: Boyah Bomb

Agent 8: Curses in octarian at least 5 times a day. Remarkably relaxed despite all the bs shes been through.

Weapon preferences: shooters

Fave Special: Triple Inkstrike

Neo 3: A chaotic child, will occasionally eat stuff off the floor.

Weapon preferences: tri-stringer, blasters if shes feeling spicy

Fave Special: Super Chump

Some Honorable Mentions:

3 has a major sweet tooth and she won’t apologize for it. (shes awful with spicy food tho gchfxgfz)

Neo really likes bread.

8 will eat the most criminally offensive spicy food without a reaction.

3 likes to sleep in her squidform, it’s kinda weird to others. It’s honestly more worrying if she doesn’t shift forms. (hc that people usually only do that when theyre really sick…..and then theres 3)

4 listens to her music too loud.

3 and 4 bicker all the time, but it rarely gets to a point where they’re actually upset. They especially fight about how to lead on missions (this is moot bc 3 is the captain lol) because 3 prefers the “slow and steady” approach and 4 prefers to play “fast and loose”, if that makes sense. (8s just here for the ride)

The squid sisters like to say that 3 and 4 are twins and they both hate it.

3 is a runaway, Neo is an orphan. Different circumstances, same outcome. They relate to each other a lot and I think thats awesome (and sad).

Neo (and 8) will occasionally say some out of pocket shit without realizing just how messed up it really is: “what? you’ve never had to eat out of the trash before?”

3 is very emotionally numb and has a hard time expressing any care towards others, so she ends up showing it through favors/giving advice/“are you ok?”s. She’ll tell you to put on a jacket when it’s 70 degrees out lol. (this is also why she’s a mess around 8, those are feelings she has no idea how to deal with)

3 is terrified of being sick (like bedridden sick, haha sanitization go brr) and will inwardly panic the whole time.

3 has the worst alcohol tolerance behind Marie and 4. (Callie will drink 12 shots of vodka without flinching)

Octolings have a very different view on relationships than inklings do; inklings will date/marry out of love while octolings will treat it more as a transaction (not saying they can’t, love just isn’t a priority). 8 as had and infatuation for 3 for years but doesn’t act on it because she wasn’t sure if she really felt the way she did. She knows inklings hold more weight to relationships and didn’t want to risk hurting 3 if she was wrong. (the events of side order really helped her figure it out)

After the events of Splatoon 2, 4 took a back seat on being an agent. Less frontlines and more research focused. (like Marie lol) She hated this at first, but grew to like it.

3s alter ego is DJ Sango, she uses her rapping/singing to vent. 4 and 8 play dumb and pretend they don’t know about her account. (They both listen to her music tho 😶)

8 is extremely calm, you’d have to be trying to piss her off.

Inklings are like mood rings, there tentacles will change color depending on their mood (think like streaks or spots of other colors) The more intense the emotion, the deeper the color.

8 and 3 both have to clean/replace their weapon filters more often than most but for different reasons: for eight its bc shes an octoling (their ink is more abrasive) while 3 has thicker ink than normal as the last remnant of being partially sanitized.

3 isn’t actually as stinky as the squid sisters will have you believe. She one time came back from a mission smelling particularly RANKED that day, and they’ve never let her live it down.

There’s probably more but I can’t think of any rn

k bye <3

[moonshynecybin]

I’m still thinkingggg about that ask bc like. imagine jorge in 2013. you’re being terrorized by a (almost) teenage prodigy (the title that used to be yours) and also that prodigy is fawning all over your legendary teammate who you have a strained relationship with but also is racing him no holds barred and you’re waiting with petty glee for the moment he turns all the media and societal capital he has against that upstart when he goes a bit too far…. fast forward two years and you GET that but you’re now older (by two years lol) and see things you didn’t before (you also get death threats) and the knowledge that you wanted that turns sour in your mouth

with jorge specifically i think it’s also like. he gets some therapy and maybe starts evaluating some wants vis a vis competition and life that might lay outside of what has been chosen for him in the past. like sepang for sure lays a lot of sympathetic groundwork— building a common adversary in a way (bitching about your crazy ass coworker is a scared bonding ritual imo) and lumping them together media wise into the same group. but there’s also jorge saying he didn’t fucking even LIKE marc until they were teammates, which is interesting to meeee as like YEAH you’re spending time together getting to know each other it makes sense that you’re gonna warm up. BUT. compellingly. marc also kicked his ass six ways to sunday on that bike, and traditionally in motorsport that does not inspire new feelings of friendship? especially after knowing someone like 6 years?? so i’m forced to look at what exactly changed in their relationship around this time and then use a lot of delicious psychological conjecture:

first. dani gone. a ghost is haunting that seat at honda and they BOTH know it. can’t talk with the guy they want to talk with so now they have to talk to EACH OTHER ! DEAL WITH IT

second. marc vs vale as a teammate undeniably a different experience. marc at that time was so overwhelmingly dominant ESP on the honda im struggling to see a reality where he bothers stepping to jorge in any way mind games wise (he’s not putting up a WALL in the garage he’s not doing corporate espionage for jorge’s workout routine. marc marquez maybe one of jorge’s more normal teammate experiences which is CRAZY.) AND jorge was at the end of his career and dani (his closest peer) had just retired… like i think he had an inkling. maybe got some new perspective just from getting older (and. therapy good lord. shout to jorge lorenzo for actually and for real getting therapy when so many other motorsports guys with weird relationships with their dads did not) and once he realized marc was actually and fr pretty nice off track i think that also helped… i think jorge will meet your energy in lots of respects ! like there’s marc as rival/competitor who he doesn’t know that well versus getting to know him and being like damn. alright guy. which is SO funny to me

[mooshie-blue]

Saw you wanted asks, sooooo.....

Do you have any sort of au backstory/concepts for Barnacles aka your male-wife?

ACTUALLY!!!!

thanks to a tiktok a freind of mine made: I headcanon that Barnacles prefers living in the water because he feels free of judgement from other polar bears, like yeah; polar bears swim sometimes in order to catch prey but Barnacles does it because he loves all the creatures he sees, he feels free, yeah some creatures are scared bc yknow, he’s a polar bear but when he’s in the water he just feels like it’s his home. He loves the arctic very much, he loves his family, but he feels suffocated.

Also Barnacles was judged because he never liked eating creatures, he always wanted to just befriend them and sometimes he’d avoid eating entirely, and only ate creatures if they were already dead. He’d always feel guilty about dishonoring their corpses.

It’s like that one scene in Rudolph the red nosed reindeer where that one elf didn’t want to make toys and instead wanted to be a dentist.

To him, befriending other creatures just felt right. That’s why he’s so close with Natquik, he doesn’t like hurting other creatures either. That’s why he joined the polar scouts in the first place. He wanted to find away to help other creatures.

It’s not really completely complex au/backstory thing idk what this is tbh. I’m still trying to work out how he went from Polar scout to captain of the octonauts. I like to think that Inkling approached him after seeing how compassionate he was and they both along with tweak formed the octonauts

I also have a strong headcanon that he and Bianca lost their mom at a young age and never knew their father. Which is how Natquik found them and took them in.

Again idk these are from texts I shared with my freind this is very out of order HEHEHHEHEHWHW

[miwiheroes]

Some things I had noticed in season 4 before even being a byler:

As a little background, after season 3 i was kind of rooting for byler deep down, but i’m the kind of person who only ships something if i’m extremely sure it’s canon bc i have a fear of disappointment ❤️ so i had kind of picked up on some rumours of will being gay etc. but i had no inkling that mike was gay. i remember when i first found out about the ship and i was like ‘oh i guess that makes sense’ but i didn’t take it seriously. But then season 4 happened <3

If any milkvans or anti-bylers call u delusional, just remember i was a sceptic and i still noticed these things. imo, they’re the ones with rocks in their brains if i, a GA member at the time, noticed this:

Will, in the van scene, wasn’t just crying about the fact that he was in love with Mike. When I first watched it, my view was that he was crying because he had just helped Mike and El’s relationship, creating more pain for him. But, another thing I instantly thought of was that he was crying because he had just lied to him, and that means he hates lying to him and that Mike must find out about it later. He literally said earlier that season to El how Mike doesn’t like it when she lies to him so…

Another van scene moment I noticed was the Jonathan third-party perspective in the rear-view mirror. A lot of GA may chalk this up to just them showing that jonathan knows about will, but it literally shows Mike looking at Will so lovingly that it’s clear it’s about how whipped he is for him but Will doesn’t notice. I remember watching this scene with my parents bro, and back then i wasn’t sure if they were homophobic lol so when that happened i was blushing so hard bc omg… I basically just knew then and there that mike was in love with him but he just didn’t know it (my opinion at the time, now i think he was just trying to deny it but he definitely Knew)

Finally, I figured out the painting thing and why Mike was being weird with him at the airport. like, I didn’t need anyone to explain that to me i fear some anti-bylers are just blind or something (sh who said that)… When Mike didn’t hug Will properly I was like oh wow idk that was weird but as soon as he was like *takes deep breath* Wh-what’s that? I instantly thought back to when El had told Mike about Will making it for a girl he liked and that was why he was so disinterested. The showrunners wanted you to remember that.

So yeah guys, I don’t think you’re delusional! Sometimes GA members just don’t read into it enough, or maybe they do, and they just don’t want a queer romance to happen <3 woops

[extinct-fish]

MUTUAL RYOMINA DRABBLE

ooo I have such a cool scene for p3r, not canon in the slightest, but more or less ryomina lmfao- super simple, but I might write it bc it sounds so neat to me- A final battle against Takaya, within the 30 days left before nyx- (future Arca Here, this slowly became a writing thing, I meant to write this idea simply-) Yall im sorry I don’t remember Takaya’s personality and didn’t wanna do the research, this gon be bad

Takaya stands opposite of Makoto. A final battle, and frankly, Makoto couldn’t focus on the monologue that Takaya was going on about. After a session of mind-numbing, in short, boring dialogue, Hypnos, Takaya’s persona, made its presence known. Makoto, finally glad to get some action, pulled out his evoker, immediately whipping it up to his head.

“Persona!” And before he could move to pull the trigger, the surprised, illegible comments from the other SEES members froze him in place. Before he could even realize, a gentle, careful hand moved the evoker away, the hand covering the chamber.

“You know, you don’t have to summon me like that.” And the yellow scarf was clear to see. “Just call my name. I hate to see you doing that.” Ryoji was walking forward without an inkling of fear, now facing up against Hypnos and Takaya “These are the few you want me to reap? I figured it’d at least be a challenge.” A scythe, taller than Ryoji himself seemed to appear out of the air, and he grabbed and waved it around as if the solid metal blade weighed nothing to him.

“Is your brother a challenge enough?” Makoto stated, now putting the evoker safely away.

“As someone who grew up with him? I won the sibling fights, not enough of one.” The scythe thudded against the ground, the scrape of metal against the concrete loud enough to make some party members flinch.

“So dramatic.” Makoto sighed, a faint smile forming. “Do what you have to, Than.”

Takaya, taking absolute offense at his blatant disregard to his threats, scowled at the two. “‘Than’?”

Ryoji chuckled, the sound of metal links echoed through the air, yet there was no chains in sight. “Tell me, Takaya,” he said, a smile growing, “How well do you know Death? Let me guess, you know it ‘close’?” Ryoji began to step forward. one silent, slow step at a time. “Nice to know my brother is helping you. Maybe that’s why you feel Death has been so close, as Sleep is the closest thing to me.” He pondered, the scythe now pointing towards Takaya.

Takaya became cautious. The yellow scarfed man, with no armor and no markings to symbolize any sort of connection to SEES, showed no hesitation to him. (This is where I forget everything about Takayas personality, because I think he’s forgettable and not a clear-cut obvious villain, if not for his memorable design)

“Soon enough, everyone dies. Everyone has their day. Not a moment too late, from when they’re due. And no matter how hard people try… I am Inevitable. I wait for no one.” And the yellow scarfed man began to change. A flash of blue, cyan sparks flying around, and energy melted like putty from the shape of a human, to the shape of a towering creature, coffins circling around it. A metal jaw hung loosely open, chains linking the hovering coffins to the back of the creature. Leather covered the body, with white gloves up to the elbows, looking pristine and clean.

“I am Thanatos, God of Death.” Makoto watched the whole thing, a half-hidden smirk on his face.

God, was he hot when he did that.

Original Arca formatting. Y'all know how I write. I just wanted to show off @constancium's writing skills!

[agaypanic]

Malcolm in the Middle Simp Headcanons

Masterlist

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***

Malcolm

Probably met you in the Krelboyne class

Very impressed by your brains

Always chooses you as a study buddy or project partner

Holds back complaints about life and shit just to hear you talk

This is very difficult for him to do bc the dude LOVES to complain

Holds your books/backpack for you and walks you to all your classes

Mainly because you have the same classes, but he insists he’d do it even if you didn’t

Learns everything about you and commits it to memory (which isn’t hard because of his memory)

You’re the best thing in his sucky life

Stevie had half a mind to roll away from his best friend as he went on and on about Herkabe. Something about him trying to get Malcolm to sabotage his perfect GPA so Herkabe could keep some academic record. Usually, Stevie would care very much about someone’s academic standing. But right now, he was focused on trying not to kill himself or Malcolm.

“I mean, it’s absolutely ridiculous! He’s using Reese to get me to tank a grade. Reese! It’d work better if it was-”

“Hey, guys!” You bounded towards the two, and Malcolm’s demeanor changed entirely. Stevie was grateful for your arrival because, for some reason, Malcolm lessened the bitching and moaning by a lot.

“Hey, Y/n.” The boys greeted back.

“So, what were you guys talking about?”

“Well-” Stevie was about to snitch on your boyfriend but was cut off by him.

“Oh, it was nothing.”

“Are you sure? You looked pretty passionate about it.” Malcolm assured you it was nothing, but Stevie gave you a look saying he’d tell you about it later. “Okay, then. Wanna go to class?”

“Sure!” Malcolm responded excitedly, grabbing his backpack off the lunch table you were hanging around. You said goodbye to Stevie and made your way to first period. “Want me to take your bag?” He asked but was already slipping the strap off your shoulder.

Reese

COOKS FOR YOU

ALL THE TIME

I’m convinced it’s his love language

From snacks to tide you over until lunch to full-course meals during the rare occasion that you two have the house to yourselves

Will beat the shit out of anyone who messes with you

If it’s a girl, he’ll probably get Cynthia to do it

Your happiness is his biggest priority; he can’t have some idiot messing with that

“Reese, this is delicious.” You moaned as you ate a baggie of your favorite snack that he had cooked up for you. He knew how hungry you’d get from skipping breakfast, so he packed you a little snack bag every day so you wouldn’t be miserable until lunch. He was somewhat surprised that the teacher hadn’t made him stop bringing food to class, but it might’ve had something to do with the fact that whenever you were happy, he was happy. And a teacher would rather have a happy Reese than an angry Reese.

“I think I might make that my go-to snack for you; you seem to like it the most.” You smiled at the comment, giddy that he paid attention enough to know which of his foods were your favorite.

“Well, I like all your food.”

The last bunch of kids filed in, and the last one seemed miserable. Upon closer inspection, you noticed that it was a kid in your class that messed with you frequently. You then noticed that he was littered with cuts and bruises. Immediately, you had an inkling of how this happened.

“Reese, did you do that?” He looked up at the kid, smirking at his handiwork.

“Gotta keep my girl happy.”

Francis

Thinks it’s love at first sight

Francis is such a delusional romantic tbh

If you meet him while he’s in military school, he’s always writing you poems and letters 

Half of his calls home are for you because he just wants to know how you’re doing

If you work at the ranch with him, he’ll pick up the work on your chores if you have something to do

Even if you don’t need any help, he’ll accompany you just because he loves spending time with you

You know those tiktoks that are like “when you and your friend work together, so everything’s a two-person job now”?

That’s him with EVERYTHING

Even if you’ve been together for years, he still tries to impress you with extravagant presents or ideas

You tell him you don’t need/want much, just him, but he thinks you deserve the very best

“Francis, I can do it myself.” You jokingly rolled your eyes at your boyfriend, who set out plates and cutlery for the breakfast buffet. “It’s the easiest job of my day.”

“I just wanna make it easier, baby.” Francis kissed you before straightening the table clothes in the dining hall and on the patio.

“Well, thank you.” You smiled before moving to restock the napkin dispenser. Francis raced to your side, opening the dispenser for you. “Thanks again.”

“No problem. So, I was looking at our schedules, and I noticed we should be done with work at the same time.”

“Oh, yeah?” He nodded, closing the dispenser and positioning it right on the table. “What do you have planned?”

“Not much.” He shrugged nonchalantly, but if you knew your boyfriend well, you knew at least three different activities were reserved for you two now. “Just a couple’s horse ride, massage, and then I asked Otto to make sure that one of the jacuzzis would be off limits. Just for us.”

“Oh, that sounds so nice, honey.” He cupped your cheeks, kissing you deeply, and you were thankful that the guests were either still asleep or doing something else.

“Anything for my favorite girl.”

[analogwriting]

Star-Crossed

Chapter 1: Cridhe

Corazon x gn!reader word count: 3.1k a/n: figured i'd pump out two chapters for y'all. a prologue as always and the first chapter. i definitely decided to just google the word 'heart' in different languages and use that for chapter titles bc idk what the fuck else to do next

After that, you didn’t see either of them again. The two left the hospital and you kept your end of your deal. You erased all traces of them; it was as if they had never been there to begin with. No one questioned you either, you were too valuable to lose anyway. Besides, they knew you had a reason - it wasn’t like this was something you did on a regular basis. You just rang in a bunch of favors and hoped for the best.

Following the events, you finally had the courage to tell your father that you didn’t want to be a part of…any of it anymore. You were going neutral. Things were really put into perspective for you and really solidified just what you wanted. You wanted to be able to help people, not hurt people. You also wanted to be able to help others get out of situations like that as well.

Your father respected your decision. He knew you were strong enough to hold your own and make your own decisions, he also knew he wouldn’t be able to stop you if he tried, so he let you go. He also had an inkling as you started withdrawing way before you had made your final decision. He didn’t include you in any family decisions or really tell you what he was planning with anything. The only thing the two of you talked about was what normal people talked about. Sure, he might have talked about people in the family, but he didn’t talk about work. It was more just funny stories, or if people were getting married, etc. You would talk about school and work.

Because of your father’s understanding, you were able to fully focus on your career. This rundown hospital was going to become your ultimate project. Your lifelong dream. You were going to help people in more ways than just health. You wanted to be able to help other people like yourself, getting them out of that kind of lifestyle. That was your ultimate dream.

You stayed in that hospital, moving up quickly. Before long, you were practically running the place yourself. You graduated college early, getting your doctorate at a young age. Your grades were off the charts and it seemed things came naturally to you. You had an immaculate memory, helping you memorize just about anything and everything, which also aided in your work. 

Over the years, you also built up the hospital’s reputation. You turned the entire place upside down. It was now state-of-the-art. It was the top hospital in the region. You had dragged it from its own grave and given it new life. It was now constantly bustling, people didn’t shy away from coming to get help. You made sure to have some of the brightest minds, but also made sure to have the best bedside manner. 

There was also another, underground side of the hospital you developed. You had achieved your dream, for the most part. While you are neutral and had gotten out of the mafia lifestyle for the most part, everyone was always haunted by their pasts. You were a central hub for them coming and seeking medical attention. Your hospital was good at keeping things under wraps and doing things under the table. You also aided any and all families. You didn’t care who was associated with whom. Your goal was to help anyone who needed it. 

You also helped those who no longer wanted to be in that lifestyle. They would come to you, you would give them new identities, and send them off into the metaphorical night to live a new life. A few families tried to take over the hospital over the years, all of them quickly learning that you wouldn’t go down without a fight. No one had been able to take you down. Between your own abilities and the small handful of trusted people you had to help defend the hospital, no one was taking you over.

Those same people helped you with the underground side of things. They were some of the brightest minds so they ran that part of the hospital.They were your most trusted staff and they tended to stay on the underground side of things, coming in when you needed them. There was always at least one or two staff in the wing, others coming in when you needed. It obviously wasn’t as busy as the hospital itself, so you didn’t need to have it bustling at all times.

“You’re spacing again, doc.” You were ripped from your thoughts as a voice rang through. You looked over seeing one of your most trusted colleagues, Marco. He’s been with you since almost the very beginning, you trusted him with everything. He was also one of the few people who actually knew your history. He helped you run both sides of the hospital. You honestly wouldn’t be able to do all of this without him.

“Thinking about that night again?” There was a smug grin on his face and you wanted to punch him. You groaned, nodding. “I don’t know why. I’ve been thinking about that time a lot as of late.” You folded your arms, shaking your head as you stepped away from the window you had been gazing out of.

Over the years, you hardly thought of Rosinante and the child he had been with. You were focused on your goals, on helping people. The last few weeks, he started appearing in your dreams and you started thinking of that time a lot once more.

“Maybe you’re going to see them again,” he mused, leaning against the doorframe with his coffee mug. “Subconscious manifesting n’ all that.” You regret telling him about your dreams.

You gave him a droll look. “Please don’t tell me you actually believe in that shit.” You rolled your eyes as you moved to pour coffee into your own mug before taking a sip.

“I’m just saying. Why else would you be thinking of it all of a sudden? You even admitted that you hadn’t thought of them in years. And dreams too? We all know that shit is important.”

“Yeah, but that doesn't mean…” You just sighed, shaking your head. There wasn’t a day that went by that he didn’t pop into your head. It was rather annoying. If fate was planning something, you just hoped she’d get it over with. 

“Maybe it’s ‘cause it’s been a decade? I don’t know. Do memories have anniversaries? Milestones that cause something like this? I don’t even know what the hell I’m asking.” You pinched the bridge of your nose. Ugh, maybe you’re just working too much. You were always here.

“Well, if they’re traumatic, yeah. Which, for you, should be almost all of your childhood.” Marco snorted and you rolled your eyes. “Okay, that’s…” You pinched the bridge of your nose. “Then I guess if that was the case, I’d just be reveling in the past all the time. So I guess I can check off whatever weird ass theory I had going on.” Not that you could really call it that. It was more of a nonsense ramble. 

“I’m still sticking with my fate theory. Who knows, maybe you’re soulmates and they moved back. Expect to see them soon.” Marco gave you a lazy grin and you rolled your eyes. “Twenty bucks says fate.”

“I don’t mean to offend you, but you’re out of your mind.” He just laughed at you, shaking his head. He glanced at his watch. “Oh shit - we’re late!” He jumped, straightening himself out. “Let’s go.”

You blinked, immediately forgetting about your conversation. “Late? For what?” You looked over your shoulder at him as he pushed you out of your office. You were currently racking your brain for what could possibly be going on right now.

“The new guys are starting today! You know, the two new interns? For their residency or what have you.”

“Oh shit, that’s right!” You started walking quickly down the hallway, Marco hot on your heels. You stopped causing him to almost run right into you. “What were their names again? Shit. I forgot my clipboard.”

“For fuck’s sake, y/n.” He grabbed a tablet from a nurses’ station, tapping away on it. “I don’t know why you don’t just use the tablets, for one. For two, here you go.” He handed you the handheld device and you took it, looking at it.

“Shut up. You know I just like having papers.” You read the screen before you. “Looks like…Trafalgar Law and Nico Robin? They both look promising.” They both had high marks and seemed to pass their tests with flying colors, they also had glowing reviews from their professors. They also seemed to have jumped a few grades like yourself. Prodigies. 

“Wow, I’m reminding you about an important meeting and helping you gather your information beforehand and you can’t even thank me? You wound me, y/n.” Marco feigned hurt, putting a hand over his heart and pretending to faint.

“Oh my god, you are so dramatic.” You laughed, shaking your head with a roll of your eyes. “You’re right. What would I do without you, Marco?” 

“That’s better. I know my worth.” He straightened himself out and you chuckled. “Alright, let’s go. We’re already late as shit.” You started back down the hallway, Marco close on your heels once more.

It wasn’t long before you entered the conference room where the two were sitting. They both turned to look at the both of you. You were greeted by a rather grumpy looking man and a neutral looking woman. Both gave off the same but different vibes.

“So sorry we’re late. We were in a meeting.” Marco shot you a look as you lied and you ignored him, looking at the tablet in your hands once more before setting it on the table.

The two just looked at you and you nodded. “Anyway. I’m Doctor y/n. I’m the head doctor here at the hospital. I run the place. I am typically always in meetings or putting out fires, so I won’t be able to work as closely with you as I would like, but I will be keeping an eye on the two of you. Especially with how promising your resumes and such are. I’m sure you’ll be a wonderful addition to the team and I hope that you find everything to your liking.” You smiled at the two of them.

“I do have an open door policy, so if you need anything - don’t hesitate to come and talk to me or ask. If you can’t find me, feel free to leave a note or let Doctor Marco here know. He tends to somehow always know where I’m at.”

“I have a y/n radar. Comes with the territory of knowing them for so long. It’s how I keep them out of trouble.” You glared at him and this time he’s the one that ignored you. He gave a small wave. “I’m Doctor Marco, by the way. I’m their right hand man and will be the one who is going to be looking over the both of you. Like y/n, I also have an open door policy. We all are going to be seeing each other a lot, so it would really suck if we hated each other, yeah?”

The two just stared at you blankly. It was a bit unnerving, but the both of you had somewhat made fools of yourself by being late.

“Since we were late, I’m going to go out and grab us some drinks. I have a bit until my next meeting and figure that it might be a good way to apologize. Marco is going to start giving the history of our hospital and how things run. Write down your orders and I’ll go and grab them from the cafe down the street.” You smiled at the two before you. The woman returned your smile, but the other seemed to keep the same face. 

Oh man, you always hated the awkward first few weeks of anyone’s residencies. 

--

After grabbing the interns’ orders, you headed out. You obviously knew yours and having known Marco so long, of course you also knew his order.

You were mentally kicking yourself for being so off today. You had no idea why you were like this. You were usually so punctual, organized, and not so…’spacey’ as Marco had put it. Sure, you were growing more spacey as of late, but especially today. You also weren’t the type to stutter and stumble over yourself when introducing yourself. Nothing seemed to be going right. You were mentally kicking yourself.

A familiar feeling overcame you, finding yourself moving before you could process what was happening. Your hand reached out, catching someone by the collar before they fell flat on their face. “Oh my god. Are you okay?” you asked, moving to help them up. 

Only when they stood, they towered over you. A familiar feeling once more and your eyes widened as the man turned around. You felt your entire body grow rigid and your blood run cold as the memories came flooding back for a second time today. You had to be fucking joking.

“I’m so sorry!” 

Donquixote Rosinante stood before you with an apologetic look on his face. The air around him was definitely different from the last time you saw him but…it made sense considering the circumstances. He was more…playful and lighter.

“Are you alright?” he asked you. You blinked, coming back to reality, clearing your throat. “Uh, I’m fine. But are you okay? You’re the one that fell.”

Marco’s words were echoing in your head and you could imagine the look on his face once you told him about what happened. Maybe you wouldn’t. No, you had to. You told him everything.

“I’m fine! I’m really clumsy so I fall all the time.” He let out a nervous chuckle before pausing. He tilted his head to the side. “Do I know you? You look familiar.” He leaned in close, causing you to back away slightly. 

You shook your head, putting your hands up as some kind of barrier between the two of you. Your head was spinning and you felt like you couldn’t breathe. “I don’t believe so.” He narrowed his eyes as he looked at you, making your heart rate pick up three fold. You thought it was going to burst out of your chest.

“Well, I have to get going. I’m running late. Be careful and make sure you watch where you’re going,” you said, inclining your head and basically running off.

--

What the absolute fuck? Your head was spinning. Was that really him? Was everything Marco said true? Did you start remembering those things because he came back and you somehow sensed it? Was it because you were soulmates? No, no. That was fucking ridiculous. There was no way. This was all just pure coincidence.

You wouldn’t have been so shocked to see him if you hadn’t literally been dreaming about the man the past few weeks. If you had just ran into him without all the pretext, you wouldn’t have thought anything of it. 

That had thrown you so off guard you almost completely forgot to grab coffee and had been halfway back to the hospital when you remembered, so you went again. Only you took a different route this time, you didn’t want to risk running into him again.

You eventually dropped the drinks off, but you had a conference call that you had to take care of, so you couldn’t stick around. You did apologize about fifty times to the two. You were making quite the first impression. Robin seemed rather amused, telling you it was fine. Law didn’t say anything except for a thanks for the coffee. Real talker. But you also have done nothing except make a fool of yourself, so he was probably reconsidering working here. You didn’t blame him.

Finally, things calmed down for you. You were sitting in your office, head down on your desk as you were taking a breather. The events of earlier still ran in your mind as well as a million questions. Why now? Of all times? You hadn’t even had time to think let alone process what happened.

“You look like you’re having a great time.” 

You looked up at Marco with a deadpan expression. “How could you tell?”

“Oh, with the way you’re bouncing off the walls, for sure.” He snorted, setting a mug on your table. You thanked him before taking a sip.

“So, what happened on your little excursion?”

You looked up at him as he asked. “How-”

“C’mon. You’ve been off all day. I can feel your anxiety radiating from across the hospital.” He began to sip from his own cup, looking at you expectantly. “Plus, I’m your best friend. I would lose my title if I couldn’t tell.” He grinned at you.

“You know how I’ve been thinking about…you know…all that lately?”

His eyebrows raised and he nodded, immediately intrigued. He looked at the hesitant expression on your face and his eyes widened. “No fucking shot.” A shit-eating grin spread across his face. “I fucking told you!” He laughed loudly, ringing off the walls. He jumped up from his seat, doing some stupid ass victory dance causing you to groan into oblivion.

You glared at him, rolling your eyes. “It’s just a coincidence. Shut up.”

“If it was that, you wouldn’t be all up in a tizzy about it, now would you?” The stupid grin wasn’t going away.

“Who the fuck says ‘tizzy’ anymore.”

“You’re changing the subject.”

“Damn right I am.”

“Failed. Try again.”

You let out a long sigh and shook your head. “It was only once. I’m sure it was just coincidence and I’m thinking too much about it. I’m just on edge is all.” You shook your head. “They are from here, maybe they moved back for some reason.” You frowned. “Who knows, maybe he rejoined his family.”

Marco rolled his eyes, scoffing. “Yeah…sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night, doc.” He wasn’t even going to humor any of that.

“If it happens again, then I’ll…” You thought. “Probably really freak out. You’ll be getting a call immediately.”

“I’ll be waiting.” He grinned behind his mug and you just narrowed your eyes at him. You opened your mouth and he held up his head. “Oh, it’ll happen. Trust.” 

You just rolled your eyes, shaking your head. There was no way it could happen again. Especially not in the way that it did. Right?

[writing--whore]

Hunger

Pairing: The Darkling x Reader

Summary: A/O/B fic. It's your first heat and you're a distraction to all of the men at the Little Palace

Word count: 600

Warnings: No smut but very sexually suggestive

A/N: Okay so I wrote this when season 1 came out. I never actually finished it lol. If anyone is interested, I would love to finish it!

I'm so upset tho bc I did write more than this but I think I accidentally deleted the next few scenes 😭

Also hot take but I am kinda disappointed by what they did to the Darkling in season 2. Season 1 Darkling had me going FERAL. I miss the scenes with him and Alina 😩 There was so much chemistry arghhh it was so hot.

As you walked into the council room, all the men turned to look at you, eyes slightly wide and hungry. You could almost picture the saliva dripping down their chins. You shrunk into yourself as you made your way to your seat. 

It was your first heat and you didn’t want to let it prevent you from going to work. But a heat was even more intense than you’d expected it to be and it seemed to be getting worse by the minute. 

You were absolutely throbbing and your pants were soaked through. You couldn’t help but squeeze your thighs together to try and gain some amount of satisfaction. It only made things worse but once you’d started you couldn’t seem to stop. 

You dared to look around yourself and you noticed that concentration strained on the men’s faces as they now refused to look at you. They were trying so hard to be civil and not to pounce on you. 

When none of you thought you could take it any longer, General Kirigan finally strode into the meeting. His nostrils flared as soon as he entered, clearly taking notice of your scent. He didn’t say anything as he placed his papers down on the table ready to conduct the discussion. You’d never seen him look so tense before, not even during his most high-stakes political negotiations. You started to regret not taking the day off work.

You could hardly think straight, your nipples were hard beneath your bra and you wanted so badly to start palming your breasts through your clothes. You were desperate for any sort of stimulation and had to restrain yourself from rocking your mound the chair. You had an inkling that none of the men were paying attention too, if their stolen glances were anything to go off. 

A few of the men were without a mate and you knew that they were desperate to throw themselves at you. And your instincts were telling you to do the same. But one man’s scent in particular was driving you insane. General Kirigan’s. He was the alpha of all alphas. And it came off in his scent. You were practically dizzy with it. 

You were so painfully aware of his presence. Sure he was incredibly attractive and you might have always had a little crush on him but this feeling was nothing in comparison to that. A part of you was willing to do absolutely anything for that man to put you out of your misery. But its not as if the General Kirigan would ever want to be your mate, you thought sadly. 

“I think that’s enough for today.” He declared.

You checked the clock. You were finishing 30 minutes early. You shrunk into yourself even more. They couldn’t stand your presence for one second more. 

You stuffed your belongings into your bag and went to hurry out.

“Y/N, I want you to stay behind.” Kirigan instructed. 

You froze, tightly clutching your bag, and turned back around.

His hands were pressed down on top of the table - arms as tense as logs. He refused to look at you. 

The door closed shut behind the last person to leave. His scent smelt even more intense now it was just the two of you. 

His eyes remained on the table as he spoke to you - each word was strained: “Y/N, please take the next few days off.” 

“Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.”

He nodded. 

That was all he wanted to say. You should go now, leg it back to your room. But part of you wanted to stay. You hesitated for a moment, your legs slightly shaking and your pants so wet that a drop of it started to trickle down your thigh. You needed Kirigan’s scent to surround you, to claim you, to mark you as his. 

He interrupted your thoughts, “You may leave.”

Of course, your fantasy was never going to happen. 

“Sorry, Sir.” You repeated and hurried off. 

[sunships]

hey hun :3 🍓🍋🍉🍏 for William ? - Star

🫵🫵🫵 ITS MY PARTNER RAHHHH MY AWESOME QPP YIPPPIEEE YAYYYY ty for asking abt my wife :3

🍓 - disregarding the career your f/o currently has, what other career would they consider going into, if given the chance?

OOH. Well. Depending on the AU I usually keep him as a restaurant owner or career counselor. Hmm OKAY I KNOW I’m being self indulgent when I say this but I’m gonna say lawyer >:3 LISTEN BEFORE U CALL ME GAY- This man loveees coming out on top and belittling others. Holding power over them. 100% would love to be a lawyer. And commit crimes while he’s at it. He’ll do ANYTHING for a win.

🍋 - if your f/o could change one thing about themselves, what would they change and why?

He wishes to change his… I suppose strangeness is the word he may use? (He doesn’t know he’s just autistic) He has an incredibly hard time fitting in and feels as if people seem to know that right away about him. And immediately dislike him upon meeting bc of this. So to combat this he acts like an asshole to get ahead of it. But deep down he wishes desperately he could just fit in yknow? Be normal.

🍉 - is your f/o religious? what's their opinion on religion or spirituality?

Without,,, going in too much into my Williams family headcanons, I think William isn’t too religious but like… is casually yknow. His mother was very religious and raised him to be. William mostly stayed that way for her sake until she passed. He goes back to religion occasionally not necessarily bc he believes in it but bc it reminds him of his mother.

🍏 - if you have any queer headcanons for your f/o, how did they realize they were queer?

OH BOY DO I!!!!

In short, and using labels, my Williams Nonbinary Panromantic asexual spec (sex indifferent)

If u asked him, he’d likely just say “I’m queer” or “I’m gay.” But in most of my AUs my s/I kinda helps him realize the more specific labels of how he feels!!! As for how he realized he wasn’t straight, I always assume it happened sometime in high school. He had an inkling before that, but genuinely didn’t really know what gay even was at the time. By that I mean, his father had been concerned he was too emotional about things and would turn out gay. William overhears him mention this but doesn’t rlly get what he meant until HS when he finds out what gay meant and whatnot. I don’t think he was too troubled once he found out tbh. His mother always encouraged his emotional side and if that makes him gay (it isn’t but what this was like,, the 60’s or smth lol and that’s what he’s assuming/has been told) then he’s fine with it. Besides he had attraction towards plenty of girls and few guys. He got picked on and others assumed he was gay too. But he really didn’t have any experience dating anyone of either gender throughout HS.

(In my headcanon, it wasn’t until Henry in college. And then eventually me)

Anyway, I’m the one who helps him with his gender journey. He’s very very casual about all his queer identities. He isn’t one for labels, I just used them here for an easier understanding. But one day he just asks me straight up what it means I use they/them so I explained how I feel my gender a lil more and he’s like “oh. Well sometimes I feel like that. Well like. Not a man. Or a woman. A little bit of everything and nothing.” And I’m like oh okay cool well nonbinary could be a label for u and he’s just like okay cool 👍 moves on LMAO he doesn’t want they them pronouns (except for his fursona!!!) I suggested neos. I think he would consider bun/bunself brieflybut, he would be particular abt people using it and doesn’t LOVE it either. So he’s really just fine with he/him.

My William enjoys some traditional fem terms on occasion, but usually just from me. Bc he knows I’ll see him how he wants to be seen and I’m not making fun of him. I do, joke about calling a 55 year old man my wife a lot but, he really does find it endearing 🥺 a little confused at first but then realizes oh this is kinda… Sweet. Hehe.

anyway I rambled a lot oops. Queer William Afton be upon ye

[beautifulpersonpeach]

Are there trios/duos/other combinations of members that you'd like to see do songs together on the next bts album? (excluding cypher pt 5 bc I think we all want that)

***

I’m honestly a sucker for OT7 tracks. I can’t even front. Give me Best of Me, Love Maze, Boyz with Fun over any subunit tracks (excluding the rapline) any day. I just had to make that clear first lol.

Units I’d like to see still:

Jihope - That 2016 MAMA stage is legendary. These two make up part of the secret sauce that gives BTS that kick. Having them together on stage and promoting their solo songs, would be electric.

Yoonmin - I’ve climaxed to thoughts of Yoongi featuring on Set Me Free Pt 2 before. Don’t judge me. The thought of it fucked you up too. Anyway, Tony Montana, while Jimin did a much better job on it than whatshisface, that song is old news. We need new music for the minimins and I hope we get it soon. Yoongi and Jimin have the most similar music taste in BTS, in my view at least.

Namkook - I want this so bad. Badder than I feel comfortable saying out loud.

Vmin - I really just want Jimin with every member. That’s the truth. His vocals are my favourite so I just want to hear him in every configuration possible. And that includes with Tae who also has a luxurious full and sensual voice. Friends is a bop btw. Jimin’s production choices on it (choral effects, modal tones, contrast) were the first real inkling I had of Jimin’s style.

Jinkook - I really love their dynamic and I like how their voices sound together. It would be cool to see something Dionysus-like plus something like Magic Shop. Sorry if that didn’t make sense out loud, it made sense in my head.

[papaue00]

confession but i have an inkling arthur and abigail were exes, bbuuut please bear with me as i explain (and honestly feel free to fact-check anything i say here)

but first of all, let me be clear that i hate the whole “who’s jack’s father?” discourse. imo it’s pointless and frankly a boring topic, considering many characters have already affirmingly said john is jacks father. so i’m not here to make a case that arthur is jack’s father actually.

what i wanna draw attention to is the period where john left the gang for a year (which is after jack had already been born), because something roger clark said in this panel (the question starts at 41:43 and roger answers a bit later) caught my interest. basically he said there were cut dialogue that alluded to arthur and abigail’s romance, and by rhetorically asking “who knows what happened [during the 1 year john left]?” it’s hard for me not to think it’s his way of suggesting that’s when the relationship happened.

granted, roger also explicitly said those lines/content were cut, but he seemed to also say rockstar conveyed to the two actors that they (rockstar themselves) weren’t doing away with the “attraction undertone”. and that is very much felt, given how they never actually walk back on the things they let arthur write in his journal when it comes to abigail: conflicted thoughts of wanting to marry her, thinking how she’s “the finest woman” he’s known, saving john from prison “for abigail, of course”.

there’s just this really strangely intimate and possessive undercurrent in many things he’s written about her, in a way that would feel very creepy and ooc if she weren’t his at some point.

and it makes me think perhaps when rockstar decided to cut their content, they only did so out of a desire to avoid being overt and unbecoming (probably bc they figured it could be off-putting for fans and subtlety/ambiguity can be more palatable here?), but this shared past about arthur and abigail wasn’t meant to be erased. basically rockstar themselves actually never fully committed to ditching the idea, just decided to be coy about it, handling it in a way so that there’s room for deniability.

and from a story stand point, i think it does make sense? as a bereaved dad (and let’s face it, somewhat of a deadbeat one, too), arthur would definitely take pity on abigail and jack’s situation. if anything, i think arthur’s attempt (be it a conscious or unwitting one) to integrate with them was initially driven by guilt, then probably morphed into actual appreciation/attraction for abigail. for abigail’s side, well, she was abandoned by her true love who (iirc?) denied paternity to their son, that’s gotta enrage her to no end, but also hurt a whole lot. she would definitely appreciate arthur for stepping up and come to care deeply for him in return, but i don’t think she quite shares his level of appreciation.

though by stating this, i’m not in any way trying to frame her as an “ungrateful bitch” who didn’t properly return arthur’s favor— she doesn’t owe arthur love, and i don’t think arthur showed kindness to her with the expectation of winning her over anyway— it’s fair to say arthur did all this simply because he is, well, a good man. so once john eventually returned to the gang and abigail parted ways with arthur, she would be well within her rights to do so, and imo arthur would never in any way berate him or her about this, bc he would know what he had signed up for. that being said, i also don’t think arthur and abigail’s situation was all or nothing. they might never have progressed into true love, but it’s also not unrealistic to think they started being intimate at some point, if only to cope with their problems or try to move on from their pasts (this is assuming abigail gave up hope of john coming back.)

as a bottom line, i guess i wanna say i wrote all of this to sort out my cognitive dissonance. the idea of arthur/abigail is alienating to me and i used to try to pretend it didn’t exist, but the intent is so undeniably there that i kind of started getting frustrated whenever i see people tiptoe around it, coming up with multiple unsatisfactory explanations and never getting into the meat of it, to the point i think it’s just more sincere and liberating? to just confront it lmao. now i’ve come to regard it as an interesting aspect about arthur.

[mitsurikanrcji]

UNDER THE SAME MOON SNEAK PEEK!

and enchanted eyes bc it's the future for them lmao

“Aoi-San! Please don’t let them take me!” Wailed Zenistu as he hastily crawled over to her to grab onto her nurse smock, snot bubbling down his nose. She instantly made a disgusted face while looking down at him. “It’s your job!” She fought back with him. “But! I’m not healed yet!” He cried out. “You were cleared by Kocho-San, you are fine!” She gripped his hands to remove them from her clothing. He pouted his lip with his red puffy eyes. She sighed before grabbing her tray to make her way down the hallways to do her rounds of cleaning up Inosuke, Tanjiro and Kaiya.

“Uzui-San!” Zenistu’s voice caught Aoi’s attention. She placed her tray down and peaked out of the hallway.

“Ah, crybaby! You’re alive and well. It looks like,” Tengen’s voice echoed the hallways. “Where is Suzuki-San’s, Kamado, and Boar Boy’s room?” He asked him. “I’m not telling you! Look what you did to me!” Zenistu fought back with him. Tengen’s face soured at his words. “What’s wrong with you!? You’re walking, aren’t you?!” He pointed at him. “But I am in pain!” The Thunder Breathing cried out once more.

Shinobu walked out of her office by the screaming. “Uzui-San, your eye and hand!” She choked, her eyes widened at the sight of the man. He still looked drained from his fight. “Kocho, this is nothing. We came to see our fellow slayers. I was asking this crybaby here, where is everyone’s rooms? Or did you send Suzuki to her estate or somewhere else?” He blinked his good eye at her. The Insect Hashira rolled her eyes before shaking her head at his question. “She is here with us and you brought all of your wives?”

As if on queue, there was more voices joining in.

“Suma, I did not step on your foot!”

“You did too!”

“Makio and Suma,” Tengen chuckled out, turning to greet his wives. “Kocho, you remember my wives. Makio, Suma, and Hinatsuru,” He motioned to them with his good hand. Shinobu nodded her head at them, smiling and welcoming them. She noticed another woman slightly behind Hinatsuru, holding hands with the woman before her. “And this is my fourth wife, Ayame. Our family is completed.” He reached over to pat her head, smiling when her cheeks grew red. “Well, we’re missing one more but we’ll get to that later.”

The Insect Hashira welcomed them all before leading them down to where Insouke was.

Tengen lifted his head up after their prayers. “Everyone is in a coma?” He questioned but only earning a small nod from his former comrade. “Aoi, our apologies, we’ll let you get back to cleaning his wounds,” Shinobu rested her hand on her shoulder before leading them all down to where Tanjiro was. Aoi didn’t say anything but went back to what she was doing, truthfully, she was still scared of the former hashira. His room was kept dark for Nezuko but she was in her box asleep.

“These boys are truly strong, Kocho. I am proud of them.” Tengen told her truthfully. “Even Zenistu,” he added, chuckling a bit. “They were powerful, relentless and great swordsmen. I do believe they will become the next Hashira in the future if this battle goes on. Do you know how long until they are up?”

“Comas are hard to tell because it could be day, tomorrow or months from now. It’s only been about three weeks since they have arrived but we’re hopeful.” She gently said to them. He nodded his head before going on speaking. “We do like to thank Nezuko for curing us of the poison that we we’re going to be killed by.” He told the smaller woman. Shinobu paused in her spot. “Poison?” She questioned. “I was told she was but I couldn’t find any inkling of it.”

Tengen nodded his head. “Yes, Kaiya and I were poisoned badly during our battle but thanks to Kamado’s little sister there in her box. She was able to burn away the poison with her blood demon art.”

“We’re forever thankful for Nezuko for curing Lord Tengen,” Suma beamed out.

Shinobo let out a small. “Oh.”

As they entered Kaiya’s room, it was left with the windows open, letting in the fresh air to the room. She still laid there with her top open, her wounds were covered and healing.

“Without any of them, we wouldn’t have made it back alive,” Ayame said gently, her wives agreeing with her right after. “Suzuki-San and Kamado-Kun saved my life in that battle. I would have been dead without them.” She covered her mouth, trying not to cry at the sight of the woman on the bed. The three other women wrapped their arms around her, soothing her. Tengen nodded in agreement while he walked over to the woman on the bed. He gently pushed back her black locks from her face. “Kaiya, thank you. I am in your debt.” His large thumb lightly moved down the side of her face to her chin.

—---

Kaiya’s body fell onto the floor, wheezing heavily while her eyes closed tightly. Her chest hurt, it felt as if it was tightening up.

“You are not going to pass final selection if you cannot keep your breathing in check,” Shinobu’s voice filled her ears, sitting on a tree branch from up above. “I get to decide that for you. If I feel like you’re not ready then you will not be taking it. You want this? Fight for this.”

Normally Shinobu wasn’t rough with her training but she knew what it took to become a slayer. She never allowed anyone to slack off or miss any training without a valuable reason too. She watched as the girl below took in a couple deep breathes before standing up straight once more, gripping onto her sword handle. A normal blade. “You must get used to carrying the sheath and sword right by your side. Now I need you to do another lap up this mountain.”

Kaiya’s legs felt as if they were going to snap in two. “Yes, Kocho-San,” coughed the girl before she went back up the mountain with the sword in her hand once more.

Once she reached the top, she took in a deep breath.

“Before you ran up, you should have used your breathing that I taught you,” said the girl with the purple tips at the end of her black locks, coming down from a tree. She placed her hand on Kaiya’s back and stomach, forcing her to stand up tall. “We talked about this. Total Concentration Breathing. You must take in those deep breaths to help your body.” She told her sternly. Kaiya nodded her head, closing her eyes and taking in a few more deep breaths. Shinobu could feel the difference from her hands on her body.

There was a pause for a moment before Shinobu spoke up. “I’m going to teach you about Total Concentration: Constant. It is a breathing state that you will do day, noon and night. Even when you sleep, you will be doing it. Once you do it every single day, you will see the progress in your abilities.”

The other teen stared at her with her scared dark green eyes. Oh, she is crazy if she thinks that I can do that, she thought to herself. Shinobu smiled at her, removing her hands from her body. “You will doing it. We will start tonight but right now, down the mountain but you will be dodging traps that I have set up for you!” Mused the woman. Kaiya sighed but she took off the mountain, she was becoming aware of the senses around her and easily able to weave and dodge her way out of danger that came her way while she ran.

It had only been two months since Kaiya had followed Shinobu back to The Butterfly Manison. Shinobu would never tell her about hearing Kaiya crying herself to sleep some nights or the times she would find half written letters to her family and Takuma’s family that littered the floors of her bedroom.

Once she got down the mountain, Kaiya’s body felt numb, wet with sweat and dirt. She held onto her sword on her side before letting out a deep sigh of relief to make it down the mountain. Shinobu greeted her with some water. “Come and walk with me. No training but there is something that I wish to discuss with you.” She motioned towards The Butterfly Manison. The other sixteen year old nodded her head in agreement and followed her.

“Kaiya-Chan, I see that you’re working extremely hard and you’re pushing yourself past your limits. Though, I did see your face when I mentioned the other breathing technique which I understand but the reason why I wish to teach it to you is because I’d love to train you to be my Tsuguko,” Shinobu turned to look at Kaiya while they walked together. The girl stared at her in shock causing a small giggle to escape her lips. “It is a great honor because that means a Hashira sees your strength and willingness. You are fearless, relentless, and quick. You have improved within the two months that I started training you. There are two ways to become one, by scouting and by applying but here we are.”

“What does being a Tsuguko do for me?” Questioned Kaiya.

“Well,” hummed the girl. “It means you’d become the next Hashira if I happen to die in battle or step down from my role in The Demon Slayer Corps. You would have to be ready to step up and fulfull my duties that I had left behind. You’d become the next Insect Hashira.”

Kaiya stood quiet while she gave it some deep thought. “There is no need to answer right now. You still need to fully train and pass final selection before you agree to this. You still have some time to think this over. I do not need an answer by tonight. You have a long time to go,” said the pillar. Kaiya gave her a soft smile with a small nod. “Okay, I’ll think about it.”

divider credit @/cafekitsune