#except that he gets a mildly stern talking to and gets asked to just. not do that again.

[pastelwitchling]

Can we maybe get Michael with all 3 overprotective brothers?

@brittz-2123

***

              Being who he was, Michael had fully expected to come face-to-face with the Manes family at some point. He was an alien, an outsider, and the Manes Men were notorious for stomping out whatever they didn’t approve of. Of course, there were certain exceptions, but even then, Michael knew a confrontation was imminent.

              Still, he hadn’t expected it to be at dinner. He hadn’t expected the Manes on the other side of the table to be Alex’s older brothers. And he definitely hadn’t expected Clay, Greg, and Flint Manes to be watching him with different ranges of stern assessment, as though trying to find fault in the man their little brother married and finding far too many for their liking.

              Greg had called them about hosting the dinner, and there was a wide variety in front of them of delicious homemade meals �� from roasted chicken to mashed potatoes, meatballs and stew, and three different types of salad – but while Alex had piled Michael’s plate and was encouraging him to eat, Michael had trouble enjoying much with the three sets of eyes on him.

              Finally, huffing, Alex snapped his fingers at the center of the table. “Would you guys stop freaking him out? Michael, eat. Clay, have some potato, I know it’s your favorite, and Flint, stop glaring before your eyes pop out of your head. Greg” – he turned to his brother with pleading eyes – “help?”

              Greg ducked his head, huffing a chuckle. “Alex, we’re just teasing him.”

              “I’m not,” Flint said.

              “Do the buttons on that not work?” Clay asked mildly, eyes narrowed at Michael’s half-buttoned flannel. Michael sat slumped in his seat, wondering if he should pull his shirt together, but before he could, Alex put a hand on his naked chest.

              “I like his shirt like that,” he said, his tone brooking no room for argument, and Michael suddenly didn’t think Clay’s opinion mattered, not with Alex’s warm palm against his skin. Protective and loving.

              Any warm feelings dissipated, however, when Clay tilted his head and said, “So you’re a . . . mechanic?”

              Michael’s face drained of color. He wasn’t the least bit ashamed of his simple job. He worked with a good man, he had all the time in the world to study the stars and work on his little inventions – the more recent ones all his own private plans on a better prosthetic for Alex – and being a mechanic was what had kept him in Roswell, and close enough for Alex to come visit whenever they could find an excuse to be close.

              Still, at the three stares from Alex’s brothers, Michael suddenly felt two inches tall. It was probably because of the way Alex’s brothers sat so straight. Michael knew they were military, but did they never slouch?

              “I –”

              “No one’s better at physics than Michael,” Alex said, chin raised proudly, “it’d make sense that he’s a mechanic. Besides, he helps at Deep Sky all the time.”

              “Deep Sky,” Flint scoffed, chin on his palm. “You mean that death-trap you joined to keep him” – he gestured with his chin at Michael – “safe?”

              “Flint,” Greg warned.

              Alex sighed, gathering food onto his fork. “I didn’t join just to keep Michael safe, but even if I did, that’s my decision, isn’t it?”

              Flint made a disagreeing noise in the back of his throat. “It’s more like his decision.”

              “You promised,” Greg said, and Flint rolled his eyes.

              “I’m sorry I can’t pretend Alex is safe with the guy that put him on a ledge.”

              Michael’s eye twitched. He was willing to sit there and be interrogated by Gregory and Clay without much complaint, but Flint? No, he had to say something now.

              “You held him up at gunpoint and kidnapped him,” Michael said, smiling humorlessly. “And you’re gonna talk to me about keeping him safe?”

              “Guerin –” Alex tried, but Flint was already leaning in, eyes on Michael like he’d been waiting for him to bring that up.

              “I know what I did was wrong,” he said roughly, “but I was never going to hurt him. Taking him meant keeping him out of dad’s sight, and I made sure to keep him out of danger. You know, near you.”

              “Flint,” Greg snapped.

              “Don’t you get it?” Flint demanded of Michael. “It was never going to be about your clothes or your job, or any of the normal stuff that comes with dating a human. You’re here because we wanted to make sure that the next time Alex went on a work trip, he wasn’t sent to another universe with radioactive air just because he knows you.”

              Michael stuck his tongue in his cheek, trying and failing to find an argument against this, even as reality sunk into his chest like a rock on his heart. He’d always known that he was in a way responsible for Alex’s danger when it came to aliens and genetic bombs and other worlds, but he’d always pushed that fact to the back of his mind, more preoccupied with saving his love than daring to wonder about why he’d needed saving in the first place.

              Alex set his knife and fork down in a final, resigned sort of way. He was going to have them leave, Michael knew it. He wasn’t going to tolerate a single word against his husband, and he was going to end the dinner early, and he was going to keep a distance from his brothers when he was finally getting to have a relationship with them again, away from their father’s influence. He was going to cut all of that short, all because of his love Michael.

              Michael was having a tough time feeling relieved and happy when he knew how much Alex was always giving up for him.

              “Thanks for dinner, Greg,” Alex started, “but –”

              “Yes, okay? You’re right. Being who I am has put Alex in danger,” Michael cut him off, eyes fierce and voice strong despite feeling Clay and Greg’s steady eyes on him. “But you get this. No one will ever be able to love Alex more than me, no one will take care of him like me, and if there is anything worth dealing with all the bad stuff for, it’s what me and Alex have. So you can take your stupid safety and shove it up your ass, Flint Manes, because if we can survive a decade apart, your psycho dad, and aliens trying to kill us every other week, we sure as hell can handle your complaints.”

              Huffing, Michael grabbed the roasted drumstick off his plate and tore a large chunk off with his teeth, glaring at Flint as he chewed.

              Clay uncrossed his arms, his eyes on Michael as he took a deep, deep breath. Michael tried not to falter at the panic rising in his chest. Had he overdone it? He’d wanted to keep Alex’s relationship with his brothers, show them that their brother was his to protect, that maybe life wouldn’t be the safest with Michael there, but that life was always going to have tough spots and that no one was going to love Alex through it all like he would. That as long as they stayed together, none of the bad could ever really touch them.

              Had he just made things worse?

              “Well, that’s good enough for me,” Clay said on a sigh, then, “Flint, pass the corn.”

              Flint glared and glared and glared at Michael, then shrugged, “Yeah, okay,” and he did, indeed, pass Clay the corn before digging into his own plate.

              Smiling to himself, Greg nudged the plate of rolls at Alex who put one on Michael’s plate, kissed his husband’s cheek, and took another one for himself. For a moment, there was nothing but the sounds of clinking utensils against plates, until Gregory suddenly asked –

              “You guys see that football game last night?”

              “Yeah,” Flint said through a mouthful of food, “the LA team sucked.”

              “I thought their defense was injured last season?” Greg noted.

              Clay frowned. “I thought it was last week.”

              “No, no,” Alex said, “it was last month. The sportscaster was talking about it during the third play, wasn’t he, baby?”

              Michael huffed a chuckle, gripping Alex’s knee under the table for some anchor to steady his thoughts. “Uh, yeah, dude took a hit to the knee ‘bout two games ago.”

              “Yeah,” Greg said slowly. “Yeah, I remember they said they weren’t expecting him to come back so soon.”

              “I’m surprised he lasted as long as he did, to be honest,” Clay shook his head.

              And on and on the conversation went. Michael felt Alex’s hand on top of his, steadying him, bringing him back to harbor. Together, he told himself as dinner turned to varied discussions of sports, military days, and days on the reservation. As long as he and Alex were together, nothing bad could ever really touch them.

              As long as they stayed together, they could handle anything.

***

Happy malex Monday ❤️

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

A question for Twilight aus. Ok...what if Belle really take issue with Jasper's past? So much she wants nothing to do with the Cullens.

Like as much they are perfection in her eyes...lets assume this "flaw" would bersmish the Cullens for her(assuming it would)

Would things go well for everyone?

Ha.

Ha ha.

Ha ha ha.

No.

First, Bella Didn't

Bella is, to put it delicately, very non-judgemental to an almost concerning degree.

Jessica tells her outright the Cullens are incestuous: Bella thinks that's nice of them and wonders why Jessica judges them so much. Rude, Jessica.

Edward tells Bella all about the time he planned her murder (and the Biology class) in cold blood, how he despised her afterwards for ruining his life by existing, and how his family gathered around a table and discussed whether or not they should kill her: wow, Edward-senpai, you're so amazing.

Edward tells Bella that he uh actually left the diet once for several years and ate many many people. "That's okay because they were all bad people."

Bella then asks an appalled Edward (and later Carlisle) why the Cullens even bother with the diet. Sounds like hard work.

"I'd like not to eat people, Bella," - Edward

Bella hears about how the Cullens have historically had accidents and Bella herself nearly was one. Doesn't phase her at all.

Bella thinks Jacob/the wolves are eating people in New Moon? Bella gives Jake a stern talking to about how the Cullens live on animals so the wolves surely can to. (Jake, for the record, is appalled at the mere suggestion that the wolves are doing this like a sane person.)

Jasper's history is one in a long line of concerning things that have been said to Bella that she doesn't give a flying fuck about.

Even if she was mildly concerned, she wouldn't jeopardize her future with the Cullens and Edward based off a dislike of Jasper. If she's turned, then she can deal with the Jasper issue. If not then her life is meaningless and pointless.

But if Bella Did Do This

Even if Bella really takes issue with Jasper's history, there's an easy solution: she has Edward kick Jasper out or she and Edward leave the family.

Bella doesn't have to give up being a vampire or the rest of the Cullens just because Jasper sucks. Edward has said as much several times: Jasper isn't even a really integral member of the family. He's Alice's plus one.

Bella goes on a quest to get Alice to dump Jasper (which she may or may not do depending how the visions play out). Edward is distressed but figures he and Bella can honeymoon somewhere for a bit until he can talk her down.

"Hooray for me!" - Bella Swan

She's Not Allowed to Like the Cullens Anymore

Same thing happens except she tells Edward they're leaving the Cullens after he turns her. They're going off on their own, his family sucks because they hang out with people like Jasper.

Edward would become increasingly distressed as it becomes increasingly clear Bella's serious (and Bella for that matter is picking fights with the family who are not warming up to her).

However, if Edward separates Bella from them... Then Carlisle can't turn her, can he?

Edward and Bella have their honeymoon in Rio (Edward talked Bella into inviting the Cullens to his wedding) where a month later Bella dies when a child bursts from her womb.

Alternately, Edward eats out the child himself in an abortion attempt that goes horribly wrong and Bella dies.

Edward murders it then head to Jacob asking him to kill him.

Bella Doesn't Like Edward Anymore Either

I mean, this really would never happen (and I love that your reasoning is that "Bella doesn't like Jasper so uh I guess she doesn't like anyone now". I just love that you supplied a reason and that reason is this.

The thing is, Bella still wants to be a vampire.

A lot.

So much.

Sure, it doesn't mean much if she's not with Edward but... she really really really wants to be a vampire.

"What was that about your cousins?" Bella ends up subtly (not at all) asking Edward, thinking that if she doesn't join the Cullens she can join the Denali.

They're on the diet too, they sound like wonderful people, they love and respect people so much they even make love to them, and none of them are Jasper or are living with Jasper.

It's the perfect fit!

Bella starts grilling Edward on the Denali while also avoiding him as much as possible (Edward has no idea what's going on and is terrified).

Bella, for her own part, is getting very cold feet about this wedding (as she only learned Jasper's full history in Eclipse) but... The Denali will show up, and it may be her only opportunity.

Long story short, Bella recreates the Graduate with Eleazar and Edward. Eleazar whisks off Edward's would be bride, in front of the whole town, to Alaska.

(Bella's mortified, but she gets to be a vampire and not married to Edward who lives with Jasper.)

"Did she just run off with your uncle?" - Mike Newton.

(Jacob, for his own part, can't even believe it as he somehow didn't lose to Edward but still lost.)

Bella very quickly uses the Denali as replacement Cullens and eagerly does her best to fit in with her new found family. Terrible things ensue.

[teapot-tyrant]

Another drabble that has NOT been proofread... also something I'd like to use in a greater rewrite project if I ever get to it and uses just a wee bit of my own headcanon. erm... enjoy? do note that most of the dialogue though is directly pulled from canon twst, just mildly adjusted to suit my needs...

Yuna found herself in a strange hallway when she awoke. There were many doors in the hall, each one labeled with incomprehensible names and times. Yuna also noted that her surroundings seemed to be in perfect greyscale, including herself, and a grainy effect danced in her vision at all times, like an old film.

Additionally, posters also lined the walls, each one depicting rather peculiar scenes.

Some of the posters depicted scenes that she swore she had witnessed in her dreams, with those dreams themselves having been shown in movies she watched as a child. Others seemed to depict moments in the Heartslabyul dormitory or times throughout the school day. Two posters in particular caught her eye. One showed a strange woman with a stern expression and the other had a set of children that Yuna couldn’t recognize, as the faces had been blurred in the unfamiliar landscape around her.

Voices seemed to faintly escape through a door at the end of the hallway, where a faint light flickered through.

“Happy eighth birthday, …” An older woman’s voice could be heard, followed by the innocent remarks of a child. Yuna found herself curious, and decided she was going to enter the door that the voices came from.

When she crept through the dark doorway, Yuna was greeted by sprawling theatre seating. Rows of velvet chairs lined the floor and the faintest sound of a rolling film could be heard. The screen itself, Yuna thought, was strange, as whatever was playing on it had a strange vignette effect over top of it. The voices that she had heard, Yuna also realized, had been coming from this screen. The woman that Yuna heard speaking seemed to be talking about a ‘healthy’ diet that Yuna thought was far too strict for a child that had supposedly just turned eight.

The oddest part of all, though, was that the theatre was completely empty, except for one person: a boy. Yuna held back a soft gasp when she noticed the young man’s tell-tale red hair.

What was he doing here, she thought, as the Housewarden of Heartslabyul turned his head and beckoned for her to join him.

Not wanting to potentially anger him further than he just had been, Yuna complied with the request, and carefully sat down in one of the dark seats beside him.

The silence between them felt thick, as Yuna had no idea where to begin speaking to him, or even where she was at the moment. How did one exactly start conversing with someone who had just been on the verge of killing her and all of her friends in the blink of an eye?

“You know…” Riddle spoke up, startling Yuna from her thoughts. “I’d always wanted to try one of those tarts… the ones with the bright red strawberries.”

Yuna wanted to ask where this was going but felt as though she was going to instead be better off keeping her mouth shut. Was this what people called “getting somewhere” with someone?

“There was a local cake shop that had them in the window… They shined at me, like… like forbidden jewels, they twinkled…”

Yuna had no response, and simply nodded, continuing to watch the “film” on the screen. The woman was now structuring lessons for the child, who Yuna quickly realized was the point of view by which the film was shown through. Even quicker, though, she realized that the “child” giving this story to her was the very same person sitting beside her, and that the terrifying woman in the film was his mother.

“I was studying everything, down to the very minute,” He spoke. “If I didn’t understand something, the lessons would be extended until I did… That was ‘normal’ for me…”

“Jesus, Rosy,” Yuna spoke up. “You say that that’s normal for you but… that level of micromanagement is insane for any kid, let alone an eight year old…”

“It wasn’t like I had very many points of reference. I didn’t have very many friends growing up and… never mind that. You’ll understand here shortly.”

The film then cut to the child, no, a young Riddle taking part in his studies when two children show up to convince him to join them.

The kids from the poster, Yuna realized, It’s that Chenya guy and Trey…

“So Trey and the cat guy were your first friends then, yeah?” Yuna asked as she tilted her head curiously.

“I suppose you could put it like that, yes,” Riddle replied somberly. “That was the first time I had been approached so openly by anyone my age to play with… I daresay I had the best time, being able to play with them… I learned and experienced so many different things. After that initial encounter, I had begun to sneak out daily to join them instead of studying.”

“So even ‘The Law’ himself found time to break the rules once…” Yuna mused, eliciting a displeased huff from her sole companion in the theatre.

“Not just once,” he admitted, albeit begrudgingly, as he gestured to the screen. “We had gone to visit Trey’s family’s cake shop once I had told them about my experiences with sweets, or lack thereof…

I remember going with them and seeing through the window; a bright-red strawberry tart on a white plate. I told you before that the berries on those tarts shimmered like forbidden jewels; well this one was no different. It shined brighter than any gem possibly ever could.”

Yuna watched, perplexed, as the Housewarden’s face began to light up. She was surprised that he could make such an innocent expression, though she supposed that knowing what she knew now, he still had a childlike air about him. It had just been taken from him far sooner than any child should know.

“It was so sweet, Prefect… it was like… like nothing I had ever had before. With each bite, I slowly became more entranced,” Riddle’s face fell startlingly fast. “until I had completely lost track of the time around me.”

Yuna jumped as angered shouting came from the screen. She could feel her blood pressure beginning to rise with each instance of Riddle’s mother appearing. Yuna swore to herself that if she ever met this woman face-to-face, someone would need to hold her back from throwing hands on the spot.

Her heart sank, though, as the apologetic pleas of a young Riddle cried out, only to be silenced by a stern rejection and the decision that the child would be managed far more than he already had been.

“I really only had myself to blame, though,” Riddle began again. “Because I had broken the rules, my favorite time of day had been taken away from me. And so I swore to never break my mother’s rules again…”

“But that’s not fair to you, Housewarden Rosehearts. You were just a kid-,” Yuna started, only to be cut off by her companion, his voice coming out tense and strained.

“But she was the most accomplished mother in the city, which meant that she was the most correct!”

“That’s not…”

“But that’s why I have to wonder,” Yuna watched as Riddle’s hands begin to tremble as his voice wavered. “Why… why does my heart hurt so much?”

“Riddle…”

“I want to eat a tart! It’s my birthday. Can’t I have some just this once?”

Yuna hesitated as she watched the Housewarden of Heartslabyul as he began to break, tears forming in his eyes as he barely contained himself.

“I want to play outside all day long! I want to make lots and lots of friends!” The tears had begun to flow in full force now as Yuna watched quietly, nodding her head as she determined her next course of action. “So tell me, mom, please…

What rule do I need to follow to make this pain go away?”

It was an odd sight. Yuna had never seen anyone break down like this in front of her before, let alone someone she barely knew and, quite honestly, had had less than favorable interactions with her. And yet, she couldn’t help but offer a moment of comfort to her senior as he sobbed.

“Goddammit…” Yuna murmured, rubbing small circles on her companion’s back; a gesture that she found comforting as a child but could only hope offered the same degree of warmth and safety that it gave her.

He was just a kid. She thought, barely containing tears of her own. He was just doing what he thought was right- the only thing he knew… goddammit.

Yuna sat like that for a while, saying nothing but offering whatever comfort she could to the Housewarden. Eventually, Riddle ceased crying and sat up.

“I think you should be going now, Prefect…” He said softly as he turned away from Yuna, back towards the screen, which was now blank. The film was over.

“You’re right,” Yuna replied, standing up from the seat. “I’ll be taking my leave now, then.”

Nothing else was said as Yuna quietly made her way to the door.

She could’ve sworn, though, that she heard a soft “thank you” from one of the rows as she stepped into the darkness, and she smiled, hoping that for once she had done something right

[imdoingwhateverisnext]

Random Crap

I suppose this one is finished... until I think of more random crap, then I will have to start a new document and come up with a different name for it, or I can just add it here and keep it going. I will cross that bridge when I get there.

_____________________________________________________

Here's a tip: If HE says, "just the tip"...it is probably a lie.

_________________________________________________

Someone broke into my car to hang a Bob Ross air freshener. That is all. I feel mildly violated but somewhat amused at the banality of the offense. Hey you, next time you break into my car, why don't you clean it up a little bit. Why not make a place better than how you found it? AND make a girl smile, that girl would be me.

_____________________________________________

Yesterday I cut myself with safety scissors. I really did. I took this as a sign that I needn't worry about hurting myself, because not matter how safe I try to make my life, there is still a chance I will get hurt. In the meantime, being too safe can be boring as hell.

________________________________________

The manicurist hurt my finger, I flinched and said, "ow", then I apologized to her. I thought about it for a minute, then I pointed out, "You just hurt me and I apologized to you! What is wrong with me?!"

"I don't know!" We both began laughing and philosophizing over society, culture and men versus women's roles today as opposed to 50 years ago. We even touched on the difference between American culture roles and Vietnam (where she is from). The nail salon conversation suddenly got deep. It was really just nice to talk to a human in face to face mode.

_____________________________________________

If I met God in human form and he said, "Ask me anything".

One thing I would ask would be, "What were you thinking when you made those frogs with holes in their backs filled with frog babies? Were you trying to scare us? Or did it sound good on paper but the visual aesthetics had not been considered before it was put into action?" I certainly hope it is the latter or I have to rethink this whole benevolent man in the sky thing.

If you haven't seen these things, look them up online, Surinam (sp?) toad childbirth (trigger warning ahead of time). It is one of the most horrifying sights I have ever seen (with the exception of the spider that carries all of it's babies on its writhing abdomen).

That is some Dr Frankenstein stuff there! Yeesh! Frog bacne filled with frog babies. It is so gross! I am feeling my skin crawl just typing this.

________________________________________________________

As a palate cleanser, I would like to include this image of a Shoe Bill. It is one of my favorites. They are some of the most majestic birds in the world. He looks truly prehistoric and as always, he is smiling!

_____________________________________________________

Sentaderas and Pagina

Two words. One sounds kind of dirty. One sounds kind of boring. Then you translate them into English and realize you probably mixed up which word you thought sounded risque.

The moral of this story is something about a book and it's cover but in this case it is don't judge a Spanish word by it's phonetic tone. It could still be dirty, or clean.

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The Riot Act

I literally read this out loud the other day. I had to look it up to see what it was actually about. It is a British legal document from 1714 which allowed authorities to declare any assembly of 12 or more people as unlawful and force them to disburse.

I just found this interesting. I have heard all of my life about someone getting read the 'riot act', but until I looked it up, I never knew it was a real thing. I just thought it was something my grandma used to say which translated as (I gave him a good stern talking to, a cussing, or a hollering-Southern slang).

________________________________________________________

I am not sure if this story is about Southern slang or a bad segue, but it was repeated so much in my family, I feel like I was there to witness it.

My aunt would come home from Kindergarten and First grade and report what she had received each day. Like, today she got, 'two shookins', and 'one standin' in the corner'. Each day was different with the number of standin' in the corners and shookins she got. Maybe teachers were rough back then, or maybe she was just a bratty child. In my humble opinion, I believe both are true.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Since you’ve already done Mosul Trein for the character opinion bingo, what do you think of Crewel and Grim (who is apparently counted as NRC staff?)?

Trein Character Opinion Bingo here!

Nuuu Grim is NOT categorized staff 😭 I don’t know who’s counting him as one, he’s just a little meow meow…………………….

***Standard disclaimer: These are just my personal opinions of the character(s); regardless of what I may think of them, sharing my thoughts is NOT meant to offend or to shame anyone that thinks differently.***

Oh boy, here’s another hot take from Raven on a popular character: Crewel’s just okay, he isn’t great. I enjoy bits and pieces of him, but I wouldn’t say I necessarily “like” him? I only like him in certain scenes and specific contexts.

TWST sometimes mentions that Crewel is very into fashion (which is something I can relate to), but the way he personally dresses looks so hideous to me 🤡 I can excuse his haircut, but the color blocked suit, high rise ankle pants, and that garish fur coat with the tails are ridiculous and resembles the mildly impractical kind of clothing I’d see on some fashion runways. This is an instance in which leaning too much into the character inspiration didn’t work out.

I think the main story tells us that Crewel is Adeuce, Grim, and MC’s homeroom teacher, but I don’t get the impression that he actually is aside from a few blatant reminders here and there. I feel like he should be a tiny bit more interactive with the main squad if he’s their homeroom teacher, but instead he only really shows up when the plot calls for him. It doesn’t give us a lot of base content to work with when it comes to his character, so all I get from him is that he’s haughty and proud, has fancy tastes, and is stern and even scarier when upset (kind of like a “tough love” thing). 🤡 OKAY, I DON’T KNOW IF THIS IS JUST A ME THING, BUT IT MUST BE BECAUSE I NEVER HEAR ANYONE ELSE TALK ABOUT THIS: I don’t think Crewel calling his students “puppies” is cute, it just comes off to me as degrading and, quite frankly, insulting :/ A PUPPY IS JUST LIKE A BABY EXCEPT WITH FUR... so it’s like a teacher is calling you a baby to your face. It drives me insane, because it comes across as Crewel looking down on his students rather than treating them as his equals or as people worthy of respect, and it doesn’t make him appear approachable.

In some events (like Scary Monsters! and Fairy Gala), we get to see more to him and how he engages with the other characters, students and staff alike. It shows me that Crewel is much more interesting when he’s NOT actively teaching. We can see that he is truly passionate about fashion, and that while he is usually strict, he also advocates for letting loose every now and again, and has a more forward-thinking mindset than Trein, who is pretty old-fashioned. It’s great fun seeing Crewel and Trein butt heads over their differences, be it modernism vs traditionalism, dogs vs cats, etc.

I think most of why I don’t like Crewel is because a lot of the stuff I see in the fandom only focuses on this particular interpretation in which Crewel is................................. (Michard, please forgive me for saying this and sullying the name of your expansive media empire) “daddy”???????? Like, he’s portrayed as extremely smug and domineering, someone who won’t compromise at all, and that’s not appealing to me. I much prefer the Crewel who will scold his students for misbehaving one second then tell them it’s okay to let their hair down as long as it’s not in his classroom the next, the Crewel who will give treats to good boys like Grim, the Crewel who will butt heads and fight for what he stands for.

OH, AND ONE THING WE DON’T GET ENOUGH OF??????? SHOW ME SCIENCE CLUB ADVISOR CREWEL, TWST DEVS. I AM NO LONGER ASKING. It would be so funny to see Crewel trying to keep a lid on Rook in the lab, or overseeing Trey using club time to bake even though you’re not supposed to eat science experiments. There’s a lot of untapped potential in this club dynamic, and I really hope TWST seizes the opportunity and properly showcases their zany antics sometime soon. (No lie, I kind of headcanon Crewel as being like a father figure to Trey and Rook 😇 like he’s more stern with, but also more protective of, his science club children.....................)

AT LAST 🥺 I CAN GUSH ABOUT GRIMMUGRIMMU MY FURBABY 

He is, by default, the best boy in the game on account of being a fluffy cute kitty (no matter how much he claims he’s not one). I love his sassy little face, that tuft of white fur on his chest, the mysterious blue flames, and his pronged tail ✨ Whenever Grim gets a new outfit, my heart just feels all warm and fuzzy! I only wish he got more of them, because he deserves a whole closet of fancy accessories and outfits. He at LEAST needs a ribbon for each of the dorms (we’ve had Heartslabuyl and the standard striped one for Ramshackle so far), an outfit for each event (technically we’ve only had Halloween and Harveston), and a Grim version of each of the standard looks each main boy gets (School Uniform and Labwear were released as anniversary cards; I’m hoping we get Ceremonial Robes Grim next anniversary).

Grim is actually important and has an impact on the main story, AND he’s a genuine friend to MC through all those hot messes. He can be grating and cause trouble, but then again, what friend doesn’t? He feels so raw and real, like the type of friend you’d constantly bicker with because you’re just that close and you can totally understand that the other person doesn’t mean any genuine harm when they sass back. “Minion” never feels insulting to me, it just feels like a dumb nickname my best friend would call me just to be cheeky. It’s clear that Grim and MC care for each other and can poke fun of the other without it coming across as malicious. Sometimes he reminds me of my pet (not just because of how he looks), cuz he’s sassy, bratty, demanding, and easily motivated by food… but I love Grim, just as I love my pet, all the same.

Grim is the one and only character who has been with us since the very start. Fuck Crowley, fuck Adeuce, fuck Malleus, fuck ALL the TWST characters (yes, even the ones I really love); Grim is the REAL first friend we ever made in Twisted Wonderland, and he is the one we are closest to in the game, the one we spend the most time with. He’s our roommate, and our literal other half as a student. He was always with us through circumstance, but was those circumstances that brought you closer to him. He IS a piece of our world.

… And he’s also kinda dumb and eats suspicious rocks he just finds lying around on the floor BUT HEY there’s plot significance in that, so I’ll allow it 😤 I really like that “haha Grim eats rocks, how funny” was super relevant and is actually culminating into something sinister in the main story. It really hurts to see a good friend going down a dark path 😭 I just wish TWST had gone more “all the way” in some aspects of it… Like when Grim attacks MC, I thought it would have been something more substantial than just a cat scratch??????? I personally think it would have worked better because taking a harder hit would have left MC with a more evident physical reminder that Grim was changing into something they didn’t recognize anymore. A larger/deeper wound would better allude to how truly powerless MC is in this world (something not often directly addressed in the narrative), and it brings up the fragility of human life (which seems to be a major theme being foreshadowed for episode 7). But oh well, what’s done is done and I’ll accept that. It works just fine as is, since it was mentioned that the catscratch was the first time Grim ever hurt or tried to purposefully attack MC.

Episode 6 was already very emotionally touching between the story of the Shroud brothers and the character development for the other OB boys, but something else that resonated with me were the few Grim scenes we got. We witness him being kidnapped, and we see MC’s desperation to get him back, the distance that MC is willing to go for their dear friend 🥺 Meanwhile, Grim wakes up in an unfamiliar place, finding himself completely alone… AnD THE pOOR BqBY CRiES 😭 because unlike when MC first “woke up”, no one is there to greet him. Where’s his buddy? Why’s he in this weird place, subjected to all these tests by strange people? Why does he have these scary memories of hurting his friend? Is he… a bad person? No, no, Grim is good. Right? He has to be… It must be so scary being in Grim’s shoes… and can you imagine the relief he feels when he sees MC and Adeuce again???????? POOR BABY CRIES AGAIN, he’s finally free, he’s finally home. I JUST WANNA HUG HIM AND NEVER LET HIM GO.

What really scares me is that????? Grim will be sad again if MC has to return home. I don’t care how Adeuce or Malleus feel about it, I think Grim will be the one that will hurt the most. His first friend, his other half, is suddenly going away, and he’ll never be able to see them again. All those fun times and happy memories will never happen again. If I were Grim, I’d totally lose it too 😭

I think the fandom is pretty split when it comes to Grim? I see a lot of people who think he’s a cute gremlin, but I see just as many people hating on him. While every opinion is valid, I can’t say that I see eye-to-eye with some of the reasoning for the Grim hate???? I agree that his voice is annoying, but I don’t understand why people don’t like Grim for “being a shit” (because honestly, most of the main cast is shitty too) or for “taking attention away from MC”. Maybe I just don’t care as much about the latter because I’ve never been the type to self-insert as MC, I’ve just seen Grim as the main character anyway and MC as more of a sidekick or an addition to his character. Just because you are the “MC” doesn’t mean the story is actually about you, it’s very possible to frame a story from the MC’s perspective without having the focus of the narrative be on MC. I find much more entertainment in this kind of storytelling; it makes me feel like a fly on the wall watching the drama go down 👀

I also don’t think it’s fair to pin the blame on Grim when this was a very conscious decision by the TWST devs for the stories they wanted to tell. It gives the players the chance to self insert and imagine alternate scenarios as much or as little as they want!! If MC was too involved, it would have the unintentional effect of alienating people who could never see themselves doing or saying the things the game is making their MC do/say. (It’s why I personally take issue with being forced to be Malleus’s “friend”, because even though I wouldn’t want to do that, the game is making me to go out and engage with him anyway.) Grim’s just out here vibin’ and eating his canned tuna, let the kitty consume in peace 😭

If I’m being entirely honest, I wonder if part of the reason people don’t have patience with Grim (at least not compared to the other main boys) is because he isn’t a hot anime guy 😔 I really love seeing humanized Grim fan art and fanfiction, but sometimes I’m left feeling like humanized Grim would have been preferred over the original 😅 I get that we’re all here to enjoy pretty characters, but I don’t like the implication that humanized Grim somehow makes him more “palatable” to the audience. Granted, it’s not as bad as being disgusted by Trein because of his age, but it still gives the impression that Grim would be valued more if he was a conventionally attractive human. I think Grim is perfect the way he is, so 💦 you can imagine why that bothers me.

[sorry-i-ship-drarry]

50. In the end

Prompt used- slamming hand over others mouth to shut them up | secret relationship | too fluffy |

" kiss me on top of the world and if the world Wants to watch, they can enjoy the enjoy while it lasts "

Harry was tired. He was tired of pretending that it was alright, when it so wasn't. This wasn't how his eighth year, after years of fighting should have been. He was supposed to be free and at liberty of how he could be and who he should've been.

When they all sat in the Great hall having breakfast, Harry only wondered how strange it would be to just walk up to and sit next to his boyfriend, eat with him, feed him even . He hated that student's did that with whoever they wanted after the whole solidarity between house's to freely sit at whatever tables they wanted but, harry was sure an exception. It boiled him when he looked at other couple's sitting together, Holding hands, maybe even making out in a hallway, and harry was deprived of such pleasure. He was even denied of even talking to his boyfriend normally.

But harry wanted to hold on because shit was his relationship great, it was incredible. For the first time in his life, he felt noticed, felt something other than just wild curiousness, anger and grief, he felt loved and not like the I support you Harry, we're like your family harry, it was the I wanna kiss you till their lungs gave out kind of love and was it incredible.

He made plans after plans, tricks after tricks, did things after things only for it to be rejected by his secret boyfriend, claiming" they'll never let us be " and was he right. And yet here he was planning another plan to convince his beloved boyfriend to come clean, until his attention broke from walking to hearing a thud of Someone falling over near. Harry hurried to be at the scene, only to be met with Draco being surrounded by some first and second year watching Draco on ground.

" what the hell happened ?" Harry asked as he kneeled down to help Draco up on his shoulder

" pot- what- what- I don't need your help potter " Draco sneered, still however in tinge of pain

" malfoy, you're hurt. Just don't try to act I'm all independent, let me help-"

" I don't need your help, potter " Draco snapped lightly

Harry was half mad and even was about to drop back Draco, only if he hadn't groaned in his attempt to walk.

Harry rolled his eyes, hung his arm around his shoulder and helped him to the hospital Wing

" I said-"

" I know " harry snapped, Draco didn't try to further counteract much upon it, even he knew not to meddle with mad harry.

Once they had reached the hospital wing, harry had helped Draco upon the bed, waiting for madam pomfrey to come back

" we could've been caught Harry-"

" right because oh my god, I had your shoulder around my neck " harry rolled his eyes, crossing his arms in front

" it's not that- the way you just wanted to help, I understand but-"

" okay that's enough Draco. I can't do this " harry sighed closing his eyes in mere frustration

" what do you mean you can't do this ?" Draco asked completely puzzled

" this- look- what we have is great, phenomenal even but I can't sit there and watch my boyfriend getting flirted over by someone else, or live under the shadows all the time because we two According to people don't belong together. I thought I could do this, this secret way but I can't and the reason is I don't want to. I don't want to live where I'm Afraid that if I come out and exclaim my love for my boyfriend people are going to hate me. I can't- I just- I want to be able to hold you hand publicly Draco not because I enjoy public display of affection but because you're my boyfriend and I have the right to hold your hand, publicly or not and people doesn't decide that for me. So either you live under the shadows Draco or not, that's your decision because I'm not going to "

Draco stared at harry mildly amazed at the little outburst. He was aware that it agitated Harry with the whole secret agenda of a relationship they had but he didn't know that Harry wanted to let go of it Because he couldn't remain private anymore.

" so- y- you're breaking up with me ?" Much to Draco's disappointment and his attempt to keep from Trembling, his voice came out slightly in a higher octave and rather cracked.

Harry sadly looked at Draco, pulling the chair next to his bed and holding Draco's hands " Merlin, no- or yes- I don't know. I just- I want you to know I Want you Draco, however I can't stay where everything is a secret and we are even forbidden to talk to.. I want you to understand that-"

" and I want you to understand the consequences " Draco lightly snapped

Harry exhaled, slowly leaving Draco's hands" then you care about the consequences Draco and I- I'll wait for you when you stop thinking of it " and with that Harry left the infirmary.

Yes, they partially broke, except Harry still sent him small cookies from the kitchen just how he liked but refused to meet Draco's eyes, even In secret.

That was until the news started to spread silently about Harry's current sexuality and how people really weren't surprised. Some maybe had bitched Harry behind his back, but it was sure harry really didn't care. He was happy with his coming out and was by far enjoying the little time in the boring sun of the lightness of the news.

Draco, however felt broken and guilty of not being able to give his boyfriend the simple pleasure of even smiling in public. He saw how Harry was happy to be out in open, but Draco could see how Harry wasn't half as thrilled as he should've been and somewhere Draco was at blame for their recent so called break up. It wasn't the same however, until Draco had caught up harry finding some book in the last aisle of the library before restricted section began.

Draco pondered whether he should go back, but he missed the way Harry kissed him and it had been entirely a week since that happened and Draco wanted to risk the world to feel it again.

Pretending to have been looking for something too, draco entered the last aisle, filled with distant silence and the sound of their breathing.

" harry" Draco finally after contemplating for five minutes spoke up

" malfoy" harry nodded, not moving his gaze from finding the book..

He hated being called malfoy, but he felt as though he deserved it "how are you doing ?"

Harry finally looked at Draco with a distant gaze before he turned to look for the book again " fine, thank you "

Draco breathed as he stepped closer to harry and with much hesitation wrapped his arms around Harry's waist, nuzzling his head onto Harry's shoulder from the back, giving him a small kiss over his exposed neck. Harry's stern composure quickly melted away only for a second, one second of enjoying the warmth before he became stern again

" malfo-"

" Draco " Draco corrected. Harry could be mad But he wasn't a heart of steel,

" Draco- what are you doing ?"

" trying to apologize "Draco muffled

" funny because I didn't hear you apologizing" harry scoffed as he remained still, his hands by his side, with an uncontrolled urge to hold Draco's.

" because you didn't let me- so- I'm gonna say now. I'm sorry, harry, would you forgive me ?"Draco pouted looking up from his lashed to the side of Harry's face

Harry closed his eyes for a moment, breathing deeply " fine " and he broke free of the hold

" what?" Draco offensively asked, almost snapped

" you asked for my forgiveness, I forgave you. Now If you'll excuse, I'm trying to find something " harry began searching for the book again.

" just like that ? Harry I apologized " Draco threw his arms in the sir

" and i accept your apology-"

" no you're no-"

" what do you want Draco? Kiss you and tell you that it's fine ? You didn't mention what you're apologizing for-"

" I'm apologizing for being an asshole and forcing you to keep us a secret even if you hate it "

" and does mean that you want to come out in open as boyfriend's?" Harry asked crossing his arms finally getting into one on one conversation with Draco

Draco looked at harry as he though Harry had asked for his kidney.

" see that's the problem !! You still don't want us to go public and I can't have that draco..I want you, I do, I really like you but not at the cost of only having you secretly " harry sighed as he subtracted some distance between them

Draco's jaw clenched as he chewed his cheeks " you think it's easy. Of course you do. You're the saviour of the wizarding world for the love of Merlin, people love you already. But have you even tried to give it as much of a thought that I'm still under probation of crimes I didn't commit only because I was on the dark side, because I'm an ex death eater, or the fact my father still have connections with murderers in the world to kill me if it ever gets out. It's easy for you to say harry, but me, it's not. People hate me and you don't have go through with it everyday, I have to. You think i like this, being in secret, fuck Harry no, I want to show the world that your ass is mine but I can't, because I don't want your death to be on my sake and only because I can't lose you. I want to kiss you and show it to the world as much as you but I can't. Because that's something I can't do " Draco's eyes almost welled with tears by the time he added " I don't want to be the reason people hate you Harry, I don't"

Harry immediately frowned as he walked further towards Draco until he was only few inches apart and held his arms " you can- you'll never lose me Draco. You can never be someone people will hate me for. I won't let that happen" harry sighed as he added " you're right, I- I understand and we can do this in secret. If that's what it is. So what if we can't be like the normal couple's, Holding hands under the tree or what if we can't, just go on a date under the stars, I can work with room of requirements, it's cozy anyways. I can't believe I was such a prat for this reason and you know what- I'm sorry for being a terrible boyfriend for not understanding you. I was just so crazed that I forgot that our differences still lie and even if we change, some people won't "

Harry shrugged, smiling lightly " do you forgive me Draco ?"

Draco wanted to say something, just something that meant screw the world, fuck what the world thinks, or something that was remotely related To I want to kiss you on the top of the world and the world can watch if they want but just as Draco tried to speak up, he's pressed against the back shelf lightly with Harry slamming his hand over Draco's lips to shut him up, it should not have been arousing, however it totally was as Draco watched harry trying to look behind Draco's head between the books to find if someone was coming their way.

"don't speak a word. Someone is here " harry Whispered In Draco's ear. It ran down a shiver over his back as he felt Harry's hand upon his waist and over his lips, catching him between his body and the shelf, and Draco only wondered how many times he'd like for that to happen..

" screw it " Draco didn't know he had said when Harry had momentarily taken his hands over his lips but he had

" screw what ?" Harry asked bemused

Draco looked over at harry's face desperately close to his own and without wasting so much of a second, Draco pulled harry closer by his sweater, slamming their lips together.

" screw secrecy" Draco mumbled against his lips, biting Harry's lips in desperation.

" what about everyone ?" Harry asked as he held onto Draco's waist to keep himself from collapsing, breaking away the kiss for a second

" I want to kiss you on top of the Eiffel tower and if the world watches, they can enjoy the show while it lasts " draco replied as he bored into Harry's eyes, filled with strange desire.

Harry chuckled before he pressed Draco further into the shelf, kissing the daylights out of him as though it was the last time he'd ever kiss him but as they say, make the first and the last's count, it was their first public display of affection and the world could watch the show while it lasted because In the end, it was them who ruled their world.

The 50 day physical touch prompt challenge ends as of today and I've been incredibly thankful for all the support. I've been writing for as long as I can remember but to feel this appreciated and noticed, I never thought I'd feel this way one day. When I even began writing these, it was so random that I wasn't even sure if anyone was going to read it, I didn't believe it until you people did and have remained from the beginning till the end. Ofc I'm not stopping writing prompts, I just had to be dramatic.

Here's to people who've remained with me since almost the beginning ( ignore the tags) - @thebusyfangirl @textrovert-01 @drarry-is-my-therapy @drarrycookie @cissa-bee @weirdvibeskid @kpoper13things @delphic04 @elenaxoxo22 @gnomiess @littlebodybigheartttt @drarrywords @dearly-devoted-dawdler @draco-lucious-potter @leeemon22 @scram1326 @km-shtworldstuff @goodluckandwaffles @knduniverse @unsuspicious-nobody @curious-fruitcake @mlundin8 @nin0tchka @smallfoy-drarry @kattarcherlife @hey-its-asp @saumzi @railmeharrypotter @havingaverydrarryday @hufflepuffheroine @sunflowerishdolphin @thecornerofbelu @iamactuallya-cat @lilthislilthat @harrypotterjelly

Dialogue prompt requests open

Day 49- 5 times Harry was a pain in the ass

[wordsfromthesol]

The Undercover Job

Author: @wordsfromthesol Taglist: @zphilophobiaz​ Pairing: Batsis!Reader Summary: You were itching to get back in the field, so you went undercover without telling your family. No one was too happy when you came to them for help.   Warnings: Language, I think that's it? Word Count: 1.3k

Everyone sat around the conference room table, though no one was really waiting for you to begin. "So there's a big shipment coming in for Roman Sionis." You blurted out in an attempt to shut everyone up.

"That's it?" Jason pushed you for more information. He knew that you wouldn't call them all here for something as trivial as a drug shipment.

"That's it." You attempted to play it off, but got an stern disapproving look from Barbara. When you didn't push forward with your explanation she decided to pipe in.

"Y/N. I think it's time to tell them." Everyone looked around the table with concern and confusion in their eyes. Yet a slight since of relief washed over them once they realized no one at the table understood what Babs was talking about. "Y/N." The sound of your name grated against your ears. You knew there was no getting out of this.

"So I've been undercover…" You reluctantly began while glaring at Barbara.  

"Where?" Jason's guttural tone made you dread the recollection of your time under Black Mask.

"Vulcanalia. But that's not --"

"Babs, you knew?" Dick's heart looked broken that Barbara had kept your secret.

"I found out, and Y/N made me promise not to say anything. Be grateful she's coming to you now. Without me, she wouldn't have." She tried to make Dick see reason, but everyone there could see the hurt in his eyes.

"Alright. A shipment." Tim attempted to get everyone back on track, despite the turmoil flooding through the room.   "Why did you need to call us in? What's special about this shipment?"

"I don't think he's dealing just in drugs anymore." You pulled up the building plans for the nightclub on the computer. "There's a room back here." You pointed to a black space, "he won't let any employees go. But I've noticed several…let's just say unsavory characters headed back there."

"Maybe that's just where he does business." Jason spat out the obvious solution, his vexation still blatantly written across his features.

"I thought that, until I bugged one of the guys going back there. Babs was able to pick up children's voices before it cut off." The room got eerily quiet, until finally Cassandra spoke up.

"Well, what the fuck is the plan then?" All eyes turned to you as soon as the question left her lips.

"I need help getting intel. He'll be distracted from 10 to about 11, as long as nothing drastic happens."

"Drastic, as in…?" Dick spoke up in an effort to help.

"Clients walking in. I'm going to need two people posted outside to prevent this."

"Easy, Damian and Cass." Dick didn't hesitant to start doling out the responsibilities.

"I will not babysit a door." Damian huffed out as he folded his arms in front of his chest. "You are underutilizing my skills."

"Dami, you and Cass are underage. It will be too obvious if you are inside." Cassandra looked at you, clearly agitated, but neither of them could argue with your logic.

"So what, they stand watch while you go check out the room?" The agitation in Jason's voice had only mildly subsided.

"No, someone else will have to check that out. But I want everyone there. I don't know what to expect."

"Something is messing with our tech down there. You guys will be blind until you set up these boosters I made." Babs pulled a bag from the floor and collapsed it on the table. "Even then, I might not be able to help. We don't know anything about what's down there and I've refused to let Y/N go in alone."

Your eyes circled the table, nearly everyone seemed on board with the plan. Your gaze lingered on Stephanie, whose eyes bored into the table below. "Steph? Are you okay?"

"I just wish you would've told us. He nearly killed me…he's nearly killed a lot of us." Stephanie mumbled the explanation under her breath.

"I know. The opportunity hit and…I couldn't pass it up. It's Roman."

"He hasn't made you kill anyone, right?" Anguish filled her eyes as she met your gaze.

"No. It's not that type of work. I'm staffed at his club, not his gang." You attempted to reassure your friends and family as they sat around the table pondering the new information.

**

You had two days to gather information before the big shipment arrived. Your worry was that the shipment contained kids and if that was the case, things were going to get real messy real quick. You were getting ready for the show, when Babs came into the room.

"We should have told them sooner. Dick is still looking at me like a sad puppy."

"He'll get over it. They all will." You waved off the notation as you continued spreading the makeup across your face.

"Why didn't you want to tell them?" Barbara asked the question you had been dreading since she found out about your undercover gig.

"Because they haven't let me back in the field since…" your voice choked up, but you forced the words from your lips. "I need to get back. And this is a way I can do that without being directly in danger."

"Y/N, it's Roman. You are in direct danger."

"Maybe as Eclipse I would be. But not as Y/N."

"How do you know --" You cut her off immediately.

"I know you've been watching and listening since you found out. So you know how."

"Jason's going to kill him when he sees the way he looks at you. They all will." Barbara warned as she wheeled out of the room. You attempted to shrug off the comment, but you already understood that risk. Though you were glad Damian wouldn't be inside. At least that was one less person to worry about killing Roman.

**

"So why exactly will he be distracted?" Dick questioned as Barbara joined him at the table.

"He'll be too busy watching the performance." Barbara was unsure just how much she should tell him.

"Performance…?" Dick further questioned as he watched you take the stage a few minutes later.

"Why is Y/N on stage?" Jason mumbled through the coms as he sat in wait at the bar.

"Oh but look at the dress!" Stephanie tried to redirect the conversation, but Tim was too quick on the rebuttal.

"Look at Roman." One by one all eyes turned to him. His gaze would make anyone's skin crawl and his marauding stare was focused on you.

"I'm going to kill him." Jason seethed through his teeth.

"We can all join in on the fun. After the kids are safe." Tim supported his older brother's statement without hesitation, but was sure to remind everyone of their intention. Of why you were at risk in the first place. Before anyone else could argue the bar fell silent as your melodic voice rang through the room.

"Babs…did you --" Dick sat there awestruck.

"Nope that talent is all hers." Barbara answered his unfinished question. She looked around the room and realized Jason and Tim were frozen. They were wasting their chance. "Hmph…Jason…Tim." She growled in an attempt to shake them from the trance.

"How did none of us know?" Tim whispered as he made his way to the secret room.

"I hope your statement does not include me." Damian's voice resonated through their coms.

"How did the demon know before us?" Before anyone could answer Jason, he continued. "We're in. Placing ..z.zz.zzz. boosters ..z..zzz.zz"

"Y/N sings on stake-outs, slow patrols…I often tune into her frequency."

"Wow. I think that's the most emotion I've ever heard from Damian." Stephanie commented as she made her way to the bar, keeping a watchful eye on Roman.

"Except anger. Or vengeance." Cass mumbled, forcing everyone to stifle their laughter. "Has anyone heard from dumb and dumber?"

"Shit."  The single word left Dick's mouth just as your song ended.

[gemstone-roses]

Steve Rogers x female reader 

Summary: you absolutely refuse to take part in any water related activities, Steve decides to occupy your time instead.

Warnings: smut, unprotected sex, outdoor beach sex, mentions of anal sex at the end, minors go away 18+ only

Note: yet another avengers team beach trip, for someone who hates the beach there sure is a theme starting to appear here. Smut. Minors be gone. 18 +only

"Y/N" 

A shout from the water grabbed your attention, you sighed and sat up from your towel. 

"you gonna come join us? it's nice and refreshing, even stark is smiling" Sam yelled, knee deep in blue seawater. 

"No I'm fine here thankyou Sam, just like I was give minutes ago when you last asked" you said mildly irritated. 

Sam shrugged his shoulders and went back to splashing loki, who looked ridiculous and yet hilarious as he was still wearing his helmet. Loki was cheating, he could use magic, Sam didn't care though, you could see the amusement on his face from where you sat. 

A little while later, you had not moved from your spot, Steve strolled over to you, a stern look on his face. 

"Y/n, could you follow me please" his face said that wasn't a question. 

You got up and followed him, he had gone behind a sand dune. He had his hands on his hips like a angry high school teacher. 

"y/n I told you that this was mandatory to take part in, you've been lay on that towel since we got here" he started, you were trying to avert your eyes from his naked top half, he looked very good, slightly wet, the water shining on his abs. 

"actually you said that coming along was mandatory, not getting in the water" you snarked back. 

Steve closed his eyes and took a breath in frustration. 

"Didn't I tell you, y/n, the next time you talked back to me, you would be punished?" he stepped closer to you. 

"Yes, well, captain, I'm sorry, your right, of course I'll get in the water and probably drown since I can't swim and then you'd have to revive me, there are easier ways to get my top of though, captain, besides, we're on a beach for fucks sake, how exatly are you going to punish me, Steve" you regretted the words as soon as they left your lips. 

Steve growled under his breath and lurched forward. He smashed his lips to yours, urgently. 

You snaked an arm around his neck and kissed him back,  his arms holding your hips, he bit down on your lip and you moaned into his mouth. 

By the time he pulled away, your lips were swollen and you were breathless. Steve still had his hands on your waist, he looked incredible, his hair tusseled slightly, lips parted. 

You were silent for a few moments, you touched your forehead to his and his fingers trailed up your sides and to the collar of your shirt. 

"Steve" you said warningly"

He smirked, before ripping open your shirt, he tossed it to the floor. The breeze from the sea stiffened your nipples and Steve kicked his lips when he saw your exposed breasts 

"lie down" 

"where? You looked around, surely not, he didn't mean here did he?! 

" On the floor! Lie down y/n" 

"absolutely not! I'm not having sand anywhere near my nether regions thankyou very much!" you raged 

"Then put something down" he said

"oh well I would except YOU JUST RIPPED OFF MY SHIRT YOU IDIO.." 

 Your insult was cut off by him lifting you up and once again smashing his lips to yours. 

You could feel his bulge pressing into you through your panties, he moved slightly, earning a drawn out moun from you. 

" you've been thinking about this haven't you doll? That's why you didn't want to get in the water, we're you thinking about my cock inside you whilst I was in the water, dripping wet, just like your pussy is? I can feel it though your panties sweetheart, your soaked" your face was buried in his neck, sloppily kissing it. 

You grinded down on his bulge desperately. 

He removed one hand from around you, he held a tight grip. 

He grabbed hold of your chin and titled it to meet his eye 

"answer me y/n" 

"yes" 

"Yes what" 

"Yes captain" you moaned as his mouth attached to your nipple.

"good girl" 

Steve's mouth worked one whilst his fingers pinched and twisted the other, you could feel your wetness leaking out of your underwear. 

"stev… CaCaptian, please, I need you" 

He put you down for a second, and once again ripped off another item of your clothing, you tried to clench your thighs together when your pussy was exposed to the cold. 

Steve made quick work of his shorts before lifting you back up and straight onto his huge cock. 

"Oh, Oh captain, yes" as he buried himself deep inside you. 

He moaned as he felt how tight you were and it was one of the most sexiest things you'd ever heard. 

"I've dreamed about this y/n, about how your pussy would clench around my cock" his pace picked up and his hold around you tightend as you held onto his shoulders. 

Your orgasm was building fast and you dug your nails into his back as you moaned his name over and over again. 

"Steve I'm gonna.. I'm gonna cum" you managed to get out, his pace quickened even more and you screamed as captain America pounded into you. 

"Come on sweetheart,that's it, cum for me doll" you buried your face into his neck and moaned loudly as your orgasm washed over you. 

You were glad he had such super strength as you couldn't even hold yourself up, he pounded into you relentlessly, chasing his release. 

"can I…" 

"Yes, cum in me, captain, please" 

And his eyes shut and he groaned as he spilled inside you. 

He let you down but you stumbled to the ground, cum dripping down your thighs, sand sticking to your ass. 

Shit you thought, not only did you now have sand up your arse, how were you going to explain your torn shirt and Steve's red back to the team?! 

"Don't worry sweetheart, the next time, I'll make sure the only thing that goes up your ass is my cum" he winked. 

[joezworld]

Any headcanons about Ever Ace and the other new A-class Evergreen ships? This totally isn’t just because I love your version of Ever Given and want more of her and her family XD

The following is an excerpt from How to Avoid Huge Ships, Or: I Never Met a Ship I Liked by Capt. John W. Trimmer (National Writers Press, 1982)

Chapter 14: The Emotional State of Ships

For most captains, the emotional state of a seagoing vessel (other than your own, of course) is often seen as irrelevant - after all, who cares if the seven hundred foot tanker about to run over you and your ketch is a nice person or not?

However, like many common beliefs in the marine industry, this is an incorrect one. The mental state of vessels is vital to continued safe navigation.

First, we must mention the obvious: An unhappy ship is a dangerous ship. Think about the last time you drove to the store while upset. Now pretend you weighed several thousand tons and required a mile and a half to stop in an emergency. I imagine your car insurance premiums might be a bit higher, no?

Then we must mention Fleets.

Allow me to explain: While this may be seen as a massively reductive statement, most large vessels (and most living machines for that matter, including commercial aircraft, railway locomotives, and even large dragline cranes) are best viewed as pack animals. When left alone to their own devices (and the growing economic benefits of 'machine autonomy' have meant that more shipping lines are allowing ships to go off by themselves!) vessels will often form a "fleet", as they call them, which substitutes for what we humans would call a joint family.

A fleet may include any number of vessels and relationship combinations, ranging from a number of single vessels who consider themselves siblings, to sets of separate married couples, and even groups of non-monogamous vessels whose conduct would make a Mormon blush. That being said, regardless of type, bonds formed in this manner are extremely strong, and will often overcome any difference between vessels - see the growing trend of former US Pacific Fleet vessels and their former Imperial Japanese Navy spouses!

Now, what does any of this have to do with the continued safety of marine navigation, I hear you ask? Well, let me put it to you in the simplest terms possible:

If you were to wrong me in some way, I might decide to take legal action against you, or I might lick my wounds and walk away. I might even go to the police if the offense were serious enough.

If you were to wrong a ship, and the offense were serious enough, they wouldn't lick their wounds, they wouldn't pursue legal action, and they most certainly would not go to the police. Most ships believe quite strongly in the merits of what could be charitably called 'extrajudicial punishment'. Most ships, if they are in such a relationship, would bring this to the attention of their fleet-mates, at which point you would not have one, but several, maybe even a dozen, extremely large and extremely angry ships going after you.

-

Of course, any discussion of the often-overlooked subject of Fleets is incomplete without at least a brief mention of the US/Canadian Great Lakes Fleet, which has managed to continuously add to their numbers through a process they call 'Lake-napping'...

-----

April, 2021 - Great Bitter Lake, Suez, Egypt

The Egyptians were insane, Given concluded. Aside from the obvious - where in the name of all that floated was she going to get nine hundred million US Dollars? - they'd actually called their Navy on her, like some kind of Triad enforcer making sure a mark didn't get away without paying.

He was a tiny ship, really - some old design that made its priorities clear, judging from his open-air flying bridge and thick hull, but the massive anti-ship missile pods on his aft deck showed he could punch well above his weight.

She'd tried speaking to him, but they didn't have a language in common - and that was impressive all on its own. From the short, clipped sentences, and badly accented Arabic, he seemed both Eastern European and decidedly unfriendly.

As the sun set on the end of the first week of what might be a very long stay in Egypt, she wondered if the line might abandon her here. The cheap fucks had already been making noise about replacing her with another, bigger ship, but Ace - still in the shipyard, but already proving herself to be just as loud and annoying as any proper 20,000+ TEU ship, bless her - had made enough noise about "not being a rebound date" that their hand had been forced.

Of course, that was all before the Egyptians decided that they wanted nine hundred million dollars, so who knows?

Another ship went by - the backlog still wasn't through, and convoys continued at all hours. This one was one from CMA CGM, and while she couldn't quite catch his name in the dark, she could absolutely catch the scathing French insults being hurled her way as he passed by.

"Je parle français, toi voilier sans hélice." She sniped at him, relishing in the startled yelp that trailed him into the night. The tugboats pulling him along laughed, and he growled at them as he moved further into the lake.

The missile boat looked at her with what might have been admiration, but it didn't stop him from keeping his guns trained on her as he changed his watch position to a spot off of her stern.

She honestly considered running - the mockery she'd get once she left Egypt might be too much.

As the next ship in line approached, she got a ping on one of the company radio frequencies.

Tuning in, her brow furrowed in confusion - now that everyone had satellite internet downlinks, internet chatrooms had become the primary communication method across the fleet. Evergreen Lines ships had all gravitated towards Discord instead of WeChat or Line, but their server had been strangely silent for most of the last week.

Opening the channel, she caught a flash of a call sign - What was Elpida doing out here? Wasn't she on the Australia run?

"Don't say a word, we've got it under control."

"You what? Who's we?"

Elpida swept past , literally - she was breaking the speed limit for this part of the lake, and had probably been doing so in the Canal too - the ropes to her tugs were taut, and judging by the Arabic screaming, they were trying to get her to slow down or at least let go. She was high in the water - her decks empty of containers - what the hell was going on?

Given was too big for the swells to affect her, but the Egyptian Navy ship wasn't, and he yelped in whatever his native language was as he rocked and rolled in Elpida's wake.

Behind her, a distant cry that sounded suspiciously like the word "Now!" rang out, followed by a deafening cacophony of foghorns.

She'd shut down her radar - because what really was the point? - and it took a worrying few seconds for the Furuno system to spin to life and return a clear result.

Or... what might be a clear result.

All hell seemed to be breaking out behind her - the convoy had broken formation and was going in what seemed like every direction possible. At least ten ships were now going berserk behind her.

The Navy ship, by far the smallest vessel out there, (except the tugs, who were fleeing for their lives, it seemed) spun around towards the main shipping lane.

Collision alarms immediately started wailing on the Canal's common channel as a very large blip on the radar screen (Who turned off their AIS transponders in the Canal?) slowly swung towards him.

The Egyptian seemed stunned for a moment - he'd drifted back into Given's range of vision, and his expression ranged between sheer horror and mildly poleaxed - before he calmed himself and stood down the ship bearing down on him.

That calm look lasted for a few minutes, but as the blip got closer and closer his confidence faded. The doors to his missile pods swung open, but his nerve broke before he could fire them, and the water around his stern frothed up into a roiling tempest as he set off at full astern.

It wasn't enough. He'd held his ground for just long enough for the other ship to reach him.

Slowly - this whole event was playing out in breathless slow motion, because nobody was actually that speedy - a bulbous bow, riding high out of the water without a load of containers, ploughed towards him. It was followed by a bowsprit, one that was so huge it looked like it could have been Given's own.

Then came the name: EVER ACE.

Then came the collision.

Ace (?!) didn't so much collide with the Egyptian ship as she drove over him. His low freeboard meant that the impact with her bulbous bow had his far side dipping into the water. Once his deck hit the swells, it acted like a giant scoop, and his keel was to the night sky within a few seconds. He'd been hit at an angle, so once he'd been pushed free, he slowly rolled back up, a much more traumatized and injured vessel than he had been a minute ago. More importantly, the water gushing out of his missile tubes meant that he was no longer a problem.

"Hey!" Ace boomed as her pilothouse drew even with Given. "Best Sea Trials Ever!"

Behind her, another ship - this one laden and looking a lot like Golden - steamed by. "Stop hanging around and get her out of here!"

"That would be my cue." Another voice called from behind her.

"Tex?" He was in Manila!

"Who else would it be?" Texas Triumph, thick Texan accent and all, steamed up. "now let's jus' get you settled up here and we'll blow this joint."

"This is a rescue?!"

"For sure pardner! We've been planning this since those highwaymen said they was keepin' ya here."

"Stop talking and get her out of here!" Golden bellowed from further up the river. It seemed like she was now intimidating some other tugboats from intervening.

"Well, ya heard 'er." Tex said. "Les' go!"

Given had been so distracted by the appearance of so many members of her family that she hadn't even noticed Tex slipping lines through her hawseholes until they went taut and she was yanked from her moorings by Tex steaming out in pursuit of Ace's retreating form.

She just barely managed to get her anchors retracted before Tex really put some power on, and began to pull her across the lake entirely.

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

Later...

The War Zone

Ever Given Escapes Custody Suez Canal Authority claims no responsibility, Egyptian Navy vessel possibly damaged. BY TYLER ROGOWAY April 17, 2021 THE WAR ZONE

📷@mahmou10_ships VIA @SUEZWATCH_EGY

SHARE TYLER ROGOWAY View Tyler Rogoway's Articles @Aviation_Intel Details remain limited at this time, but there was an incident in the Great Bitter Lake. At least one Egyptian Navy vessel has been severely damaged, and MV Ever Given, who had been held in the Great Bitter Lake by the Suez Canal Authority, has now fled the Canal into the Mediterranean Sea.

Again, details are extremely limited, but based on social media reports, marine tracking data, and radio reports, at approximately 11:47 PM Egypt Standard Time (EGY) a disturbance was reported by the Egyptian Navy craft - their identity is still unconfirmed, but images posted to social media seem to indicate that the vessel is a former Soviet Osa-class missile craft. The vessel reported that "A convoy has gone mad" and he was "under attack from multiple vessels".

While a convoy had transited the canal at that time, it is unclear if they were involved in the attack, or if one occurred at all.

We've reached out to Evergreen Lines, The Suez Canal Authority, the Egyptian Navy, and the individual ships believed to be involved, including Ever Given.

We will update this piece as more information comes available.

Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com

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[p-artsypants]

I’ll Handle This (12)

In Which Lila Learns about Skyrim

Ao3 | FF.net

Sorry for taking a bit with this chapter. It isn’t even very long. But I was in the hospital recovering from surgery. We’re coming up close to the end of the story, but there’s maybe two more chapters after this. 

(Psst this chapter has hints to the next story I’ll publish after this one...as long as my ideas don’t change lol)

--

Lila was fired. It was immediate when they found out. Everyone sat in class, the lecture normal and lulling everyone into a soft state of sedation. 

Then Lila screamed. The scream was the worst thing Marinette had ever heard. Immediately, everyone turned to look at her in horror. 

She started bawling. Huge gasping sobs of someone who’d been shot. 

“Lila?!” Miss Bustier gasped in shock and concern. “Are you okay?!” 

“I’m so sorry, Miss Bustier!” She wailed. “I just wanted to peek at my email and—and—Mr. Agreste fired me!” 

Plagg had to bite his tongue. He knew she was going to twist this somehow, but her sobbing was so beautiful to see. 

“Oh Lila, I’m so sorry. It hurts a lot to lose a job. Especially when they don’t tell you to your face. That’s no fair.” 

“He-he-he said that Marinette told him that I was making Adrien uncomfortable! She got me fired!” 

Gasps, all around. 

“What?!” Barked Marinette. “I had nothing to do with this!” Not exactly the truth...

“But that’s what Mr. Agreste said!” 

Plagg stood, placing his foot on the seat, the spurs on his cowboy boots ringing with the motion. He put his cowboy hat back on (since Mrs. Bustier had asked him to remove it for violating dress code...again.) “well now. Sounds like we got ourselves in a gosh darn pickle.” 

Nino snorted. 

“Adrien! You never said I made you uncomfortable! Marinette must have lied to your father!” 

He flicked the rim of his hat. “Now slow your roll there, Buckeroo. I know my old man, and even if Marinette was mentioned in his email, it’s likely that he just wanted to place the blame on someone else.” 

Yes, throw the old man under the bus. He still deserves it, even with whole hearted apologies. 

“But you know, I do feel awfully bad for you, Lila. Losing yer job and all. How’s about I make it up to ya? I’ll come sit by you for a while. Keep ya company and cheer you up. Cain’t have gettin’ all akumatized up in here, you reckon?” 

Not that Lila getting akumatized was even a concern anymore. But the world wouldn’t know about Hawkmoth’s surrender until Emilie’s fate was resolved. Adrien’s family deserved that much at least. 

“Oh Adrien!” Lila cried. “You really are such a wonderful friend. But I couldn’t bear to make you move on my behalf. You need to focus on your work.” 

“A cowboy needs to be exceptional at multitasking. That is, as long as Mrs. Brassiere is okay with it.” 

Miss Bustier pinched the bridge of her nose. Usually, she was a very calm and level-headed teacher, compassionate and understanding. But Adrien’s antics were stressing her out massively. “Yes, Adrien, I suppose it’s fine if you move to—what did you call me?”

“Much obliged, Madam. If’en you’ll excuse me...” 

Marinette watched with fascination as Plagg gathered up his materials and moved to the back of the class to sit next to Lila. Then she glanced in her purse, where Tikki and Adrien were hanging out. They both shrugged. 

Due to the retirement of Hawkmoth, Adrien was now allowed to spend time away from the Miraculous without consequence. Plagg assured him that once the final condition was met, no matter where he was, his soul would return to his body. 

So he spent the school day with Tikki, and the evenings with Marinette. It was a sweet deal, and it really gave Adrien the time to bond with her without school or akumas in the way. 

He had even spent the night with her the night before, curled up next to her on her pillow, and purring every time Marinette’s hand glanced his fur. 

Nino leaned back in his seat. “Do you know what he’s up to this time?” 

“No idea...but I am eager to see where this goes.” 

Nino shook his head with a shrug. Two nights ago, when Plagg was arrested, Nino gathered all the money in his savings and went down to the jail to bail him out. 

Only to find out he was already let go. 

So he went back home, and called Adrien’s phone relentlessly, hoping for an answer. 

Finally, in the wee hours of the morning, Chat Noir returned and explained that he was going home now, thanks for having him, he had to watch the mansion because his sort of repentant father was going to Tibet to resurrect his dead wife. 

Nino gave up on logic and understanding, and just made sure Plagg had everything he had brought. 

Now he would wait until the whole situation blew over, and hopefully Adrien himself, in his own body, would explain it all to him. Plagg seemed to oversimplify everything to the point it became vague. 

Marinette, on the other hand, was very curious to see where this was all going. After all, Adrien’s previous tactic of being nice to Lila hadn’t worked. So what was Plagg hoping to gain from the same approach?

Wrassle her with his randomly appointed cowboy charm? 

In science, two classes later, Plagg had elected to sit next to Lila still, despite her protests. 

Marinette was close enough now to hear what Plagg’s master plan was. 

“So there’s like several types of Mer, right? But not like mermaids. This has nothing to do with mermaids. These are mostly elves, but not all. So there’s Dunmer, right? Those are dark elves. And Bosmer, wood elves, and Altmer, high elves. The Falmer are snow elves, but they’re all twisted and savage, because of the Dwemer, which are dwarves!” 

Marinette snorted a bit too loudly, drawing attention from the teacher. 

“Miss Dupain-Cheng, is something funny?” 

“No ma’am, I had a tickle in my sinuses.” 

“Ah, I see. Anyways, as I was saying...” 

Lila always sat in the back of the class, despite her many alleged disabilities. This was probably to get away with the fact that she rarely paid attention during class. 

It was the ideal place for Plagg to harass her and not get caught. 

Poetry in motion. 

“So you get to pick what race you want to be, but you’re always the Dragonborn. Despite the description, you don’t look any different. So a Dragonborn is someone that can devour the souls of dragons so they don’t get resurrected by Alduin. Let me back up, Alduin is an evil dragon that used to rule the world, and he’s resurrecting dragons so he can take over. There’s another dragon though, named Paarthanax, and he’s a good guy. He helps out the Tongues on the Throat of the World. Or the greybeards. Some call them Tongues, but in the game they’re called Graybeards. And the tongues are the monks that teach you to shout. And different shouts teach you different things, right? The dragonborn and the tongues are the only ones that are supposed to know how to shout, but there’s this other dude named Ulfric Stormcloak, and he knows Unrelenting Force, that’s the Fus Ro Da shout I was talking about earlier? He used it to kill high king Torygg to start a war. Oh yeah, so there’s nine holds with Jarls, right—“ 

The day ended, and Lila stood quickly. “Well Adrien, thank you so much for keeping me company today. I’m feeling a lot better. You can move back up to your old spot tomorrow.” 

“Well, you shore are welcome, Pardner. But sittin here in the back has been mighty nice. I think I’ll stay! You don’t mind, do ya? It’s awfully fun to have you as company!” 

Lila’s eye twitched, but she was aware that most of the class was watching them. “Yeah. That’d be...great.” 

“Darn tootin’! Well, you look like you’re in a rush, don’t want to hold you up!” 

“See you tomorrow!” She chirped, before hurrying from the room. As she passed Marinette, a dark look came over her face. The look of someone seething with rage and hatred, but trying to hide it. 

Marinette would have been scared, if Lila hadn’t been dealing with Plagg instead. 

Marinette went home, Tikki and Adrien talking to her from her collar. 

“I don’t know. Plagg was successful with the first two tasks, but I don’t know how he’s going to turn Lila over to the good side.” Marinette mused. 

“I don’t know if he has to. The condition is to just get her to leave me alone. He said he was doing some Pavlovian Jedi mind trick on her.” 

“Well, I sure hope it works. Speaking of, where is Plagg?” 

Adrien’s ears flicked. “He left pretty suddenly after class. I didn’t see him go. Hopefully, he went back to the mansion.” 

“Do you want me to call him?” 

“No, I trust him. He’s got things under control.” 

“Glad to hear it! Ready for snack time?” 

“Oh heck yes!” 

—

Lila had to actively stop herself from stomping all the way home. Frustration rolled off of her in waves, and she mildly wondered why she hadn’t been akumatized yet. 

Adrien Agreste was the most annoying person she had ever met. And oblivious too! He never picked up on any of her subtle hints to get him to shut up! She really didn’t want to be rude, because his friendship looked great on her, but wow. No wonder he didn’t have any friends. No wonder Gabriel was so protective of him. If he wasn’t cute...his personality was like a wet sock. 

And he was weird. Weird mannerisms, weird speech pattern, just weird. Hopefully she could either get used to it, or Adrien would get a clue to stop being so obnoxious. 

Finally, she reached her apartment. 

“Home mom!” She called. 

There was laughter in the kitchen. Her mother had a guest. While not uncommon, there was just a hint of dread that hung in the air. 

Lila walked to the kitchen, only to see Adrien sitting at the table, talking to her mother! How?! How did he beat her here?! How did he know where she lived?! What the hell was he doing?!

“Adrien?” Lila gawked. 

He rubbed his head awkwardly. “Sorry for popping in uninvited. I just...I was worried about you! You’ve been akumatized twice, and I didn’t want it to happen again since you were fired.” 

Lila’s face paled as her mother gave her a stern look. 

“I think you’ve got some explaining to do, Missy. I didn’t know you were modeling. And you never told me about being akumatized!” 

Adrien gasped. “Oh no! She didn’t tell you? I’m so sorry! I didn’t know that was a secret! I won’t say anymore!” 

“Any more?” Mrs. Rossi asked. “There’s more?” 

“Adrien.” Lila bit, in warning. 

“Well...I mean, you knew she was meeting with my father right? Something about being his muse?” 

Mrs. Rossi looked horrified. “What! You were talking to a grown adult man?! Were these visits supervised?!” 

Lila opened her mouth to answer, but Plagg beat her to it. “I don’t think so. Father is a very private person.” 

“Lila Giselle Rossi! You are sooo grounded! No offense to your father, Adrien, but meeting up with an adult man, unsupervised? And to what, be his muse? What does that even mean? It sounds gross!” 

“I swear nothing happened! He just wanted my opinion-”

“On what? What reason would he have to ask a 14 year old’s opinion?”

Plagg winced and looked at Lila. “I’m so sorry, Lila. I came here to help, but...” 

Lila shook with rage. Her mother was a complete pushover and believed everything she said. Now Adrien had sewn the seeds of distrust in her and she wouldn’t get away with any white lies ever again. 

“You’re dead,” She mouthed at Plagg. 

“Adrien, thank you for coming here and telling me all of this. I’m very grateful. But I think it’s best if you head home now. Lila has some chores to do.” 

“I understand, Madam Rossi. Again, I’m really sorry...I just wanted to help.” 

“Oh don’t worry, you did. This is for Lila’s own good.” 

He sheepishly looked to her. “See you tomorrow?” 

Her eye twitched. “Yeah.” 

And Plagg swiftly walked from the apartment, concealing his evil laughter until he got to the door. 

—

The next day at school, Marinette, along with Tikki and Adrien in her bag, arrived at school just a few minutes before the bell rang. 

Plagg was sitting at the front of the room, wearing a Pikachu onesie, and looking absolutely devastated. Nino sat next to him and had a hand over his face, doing his best to conceal whatever emotion he had. 

Everyone else in the room was avoiding them like they had the plague. 

Alya spotted her and came quickly, looping an arm through hers and escorting them out into the hall. “Girl, big news. I know you love Adrien, so this is going to be a blow. But here’s the thing...Lila told us this morning that Adrien came to her house yesterday and told her mom about her modeling job. Apparently, her mom didn’t want her working, and got upset that Lila lied. Adrien’s been insisting that it wasn’t on purpose, but everyone is kind of pissed at him anyway.” 

Marinette said nothing, but bit her lip. She knew that this absolutely was on purpose. 

“I’ll leave your actions up to you, but people are pretty mad at Adrien. Just letting you know.” 

“Who’s side are you taking?” 

Alya scoffed. “None. I’m staying out of this. Both people are in the right. Obviously Sunshine just wanted to prevent her from being akumatized. He was with her all day yesterday. It’s admirable, really.” 

“It is.” Marinette said with a smile. Though she was smiling for a completely different reason. There were no akumatizations anymore. Everyone was safe now. 

“We better get back in there, class will start soon.” 

So they returned. Miss Bustier was in, and ready to begin the lesson. 

Then Plagg raised his hand. 

“Yes Adrien?” 

“Before we start class, I want to say something.” 

“Go ahead, Adrien. The floor is yours.” 

He stood, and looked to Lila in the back of the room. “Lila, I know I apologized yesterday, but I’m really really sorry about outing you to your mom. I had no idea she didn’t know about your rendezvous with my father. I was just really scared that you were going to become akumatized, and I didn’t want that to happen. My friends are all important to me, and losing you would be like ripping out a piece of my heart. Could you ever forgive me?” 

Marinette glanced Nino’s face, which twitched to hide a smile. Then she looked at Lila, who looked calm, but her hands were balled into fists. 

After many breathless minutes, Lila smiled slightly. “I understand, Adrien. Of course you’re still my friend. I treasure you too! I’m sorry I got so mad.” 

“Hugs?” Plagg raised his arms. 

Lila could pretend to be happy and calm, but the paling of her skin could not be hidden. “Hugs!” 

Plagg brought her in for a squeeze, and the class ‘aww’ed at their make up. 

Except Nino, who let out the tiniest snort. 

Marinette flicked open her purse to look at Adrien. He mimed a gagging gesture back. 

And then Plagg took those last couple steps and joined Lila on her bench. No one tried to stop him. No one spoke up and said, “hey, maybe you should give her some space anyway.” 

They just all let poor, socially awkward Adrien push boundaries and take his seat. Because he had apologized so earnestly for trying to help. And she had forgiven him. So everything was fine now. 

Right?

As the lesson started, Marinette paid attention to the teacher. But occasionally, she’d hear the faintest whispers of Adrien’s voice (Plagg’s voice now). 

“...so it’s commonly believed that the Nord’s came from Atmora with Ysgramor, but they believe that they settled Skyrim, so they’re kind of racist to everyone else. But also, the Empire came in out of nowhere and tried to upheave their way of life, and even told them which Gods they were allowed to worship. High King Torygg was playing cordial with the Aldmeri Dominion, and some of the other Jarl’s didn’t like that. So Ulfric Stormcloak, the Jarl of Whiterun shouted him to death. Just like the Dragonborn can. Though it’s never explained why he knows how to do this. So this started a whole civil war…” 

Marinette chanced a glance behind her, and noticed that Lila had her head in her hands, and she looked absolutely miserable.

[itsallmightbitch]

Covert Ops For Dummies (Part 2)

I hope you’re all excited, because the skinny scarecrow man is back and is making panties drop all over the place.

Pairing: All Might/Toshinori Yagi x Reader

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Smut and swearing. Par for the course with me, kids.

Word Count: 12211, give or take.

Summary: After your little tryst in the closet a week ago, Toshinori has been avoiding you. Hizashi is eager to make back some of the money he lost and you know just how he can help you.

*once again this gif isn’t mine but is oddly appropriate....

---------

It had been a week since the ‘incident’ in the closet and so far, Toshinori had been… well. If you were honest, you had no idea how he’d been.

 He’d been avoiding you.

 You weren’t really taking it to heart. At least, not anymore. The first night, yeah, you’d been stuck in your own head, wondering if maybe you’d done something wrong or if you’d been too forward. But the more you’d dwelt on it, the more you had started to realise that this was his thing to work through- not yours.

 He could barely meet your eye across the room at the next teacher’s meeting and when he eventually did, his face had instantly bloomed red and he’d choked out some terrible excuse in order to run off early.

 You might have been offended if you had thinner skin.

 Thankfully, you guessed that it wasn’t your fault that he was acting the way he was. Despite all those little whispered things in the closet, the cold light of day had made him panic. Years of hating himself for being what he saw as weak, his failing health and self-loathing when he was what you’d affectionately dubbed as ‘Small’ Might… that wasn’t going to go away because he’d fingered you in a closet and you’d told him he was still pretty.

 It had been silly of you to even consider it.

The long process of getting home after the event had given his brain time to work and time to freak out. Getting past those reporters, the police, the very thankful parents- all of whom wanted to stop him, talk to him, shake his hand.

You just knew that during that, he’d somehow come to the conclusion that what had happened between you was simply you feeling sorry for him and that any affection or attraction you’d shown him was the result of pity.

 Pfft, as if.

 For God’s sake, you felt sorry for Hizashi after he’d been wrangled out of his money but you weren’t planning on visiting that closet again any time soon.

 Like a gentleman, he’d walked you to your car afterwards but even before you’d registered the cogs turning in that big ol’ brain of his, he was making his excuses and blasting off like he was Team fucking Rocket.

 So much for dragging him back to your place. You’d watched him go, your mind a jumbled mess of want, hurt and longing.

 All of those feelings had ultimately led you here, doing something that you wouldn’t normally ever consider doing. Although, you’d never really considered getting it on in a closet of a strange house before either so…

 After you’d given him a brief outline of your plan, and he’d stopped laughing at you, Hizashi had been all too eager to make back some of the money he’d lost to Aizawa. It didn’t take much convincing for him to bend the rules a little. You’d sent him off on his merry way with a few Out of Bounds signs and instructions to get Toshinori up to his office by any means necessary.

 His office was nice, you decided as you waited patiently on the couch.

 He had an adorable amount of All Might paraphernalia littered around and an American flag was pinned proudly on the wall- next to several framed photos of him shaking hands with other celebrities. But that was nothing compared to his desk.

 It made you feel all warm inside, just looking over the few personal photos that were framed there.

 A photo of him and young Midoryia, looking very proud of themselves at a beach. He and David Shield, arms slung over each others shoulders and sporting those carefree smiles that youth brought on their faces. A picture of a very stern faced Nighteye that made you mildly uncomfortable as it seemed to judge you through the glass.

Quit judging, you thought. He needs to relax and this is a fucking great way to do it.

You moved on from that one quite quickly.

 At the end of the row was that damned faculty photograph that Principal Nezu had made you all participate in.

 The one where you’d purposely shoved yourself against Toshinori’s side despite the photographer’s insistence that the shorter of you were to stand in the front. When you’d protested, Toshinori had done something you hadn’t expected him to do, given his disposition for being a wallflower around you.

 He’d bent down, his big hands around your waist and suddenly, he was lifting you with ease. Up, up, until he sat you on his shoulder. You’d been an ecstatic mess, a stupid smile on your face and your usually uncooperative wings spread out above the other teachers.

 All Might had struck his usual pose, flexing his muscles and grinning- except one of his hands was on your hip, holding you steady the whole time and the sensation of his fingers pressing into you had stayed with you for days.

 Thus, the official faculty photograph had been born. The one that all the papers were forced to publish, seeing as you’d all refused to have another one taken.

 He could be bold with you when he wanted to be and days like that proved it.

 The memory of that day was one of your favourites. Seeing that confidence, how pleased he was with himself over making you smile. It was like catching a glimpse into the past. 

 You eyed the big, comfortable looking couch in the corner.

 That definitely looked sturdy enough-

 You didn’t get to finish your train of thought because the door opened suddenly and All Might was shoved inside, Hizashi hot on his heels. He was mid-sentence as he walked in, laughing over something Hizashi was saying and he didn’t even notice you.

 “Well, if it’s that urgent Mic, I suppose I can spare a few minutes!”

 “Trust me. You’ll be thanking me for weeks to come.”

 “Thanking you? Thanking you for-”

 His eyes settled on you when he finally focused his attention on the room and his voice caught in his throat, long enough for Hizashi to belt out a raucous laugh. He slapped a hand against All Might’s broad back and then turned his beaming grin to you.

 “One Number One Hero, delivered as promised,” he waggled his eyebrows. “You kids have fu-un!”

It was a good thing you hadn’t gone with your original plan of greeting him in lingerie.

 Before you could even think about reprimanding Mic, he was gone, leaving behind nothing more than a smoke trail and Toshinori looking for a means of escape. You made sure he knew that it wasn’t going to happen, quickly positioning yourself between him and the doorway. Despite his unlimited strength, you knew that he wouldn’t barge you out of the way just to save face.

 Like you’d said before. He was too much of a gentleman.

 “You. Sit. Now,” you pointed at the couch, using your best angry voice and you swear that you saw him swallow hard, eyes trained on the carpet as he followed your instructions and seated himself on the plush cushions.

 “I um, didn’t think you were working today,” he muttered, rubbing one hand over the back of his neck and fidgeting with a button of his suit with his other. Another part of your absolutely diabolical plan. You’d purposely left your car at home that morning, so he wouldn’t see it in the parking lot.

 “Well here I am,” you said shortly. “It looks like cornering you seems to be the only way I’m going to get you to talk, so... yeah. Talk. Why have you been avoiding me this week? I was starting to think I had the plague.”

Both true and untrue. You knew why, deep down. 

 “I haven’t been avoiding you-” he spluttered.

 You inwardly rolled your eyes in exasperation. While it was nice of him to try and spare your feelings, he was an absolutely awful liar when he wasn’t prepared.

 “Liar.”

 He winced like you’d struck him and you softened your tone, realising you’d have to approach this differently. You couldn’t just wrangle the answers out of him like you could with other people.  Sometimes you wondered what he’d been like, back in the days of his youth when he was saving people with a smile and that villain hadn’t yet darkened his door.

 Had he been confident about his body? Had wild romances and broken a slew of hearts on the way?

 Maybe.

 But… even then, he didn’t seem the type to do things like that. He was a man married to his work, with too much empathy for others to go around breaking hearts. That’s why you knew full well that him avoiding you hadn’t been to intentionally hurt you. Looking at him now in his muscular form, still almost too embarrassed to look you in the eye- you wondered if anyone had ever told him that just being him was enough.

 You wanted to climb into his lap and show him it was enough. He was enough.

 On the other hand, he kind of deserved to sweat after the week you’d had. Anxious, confused and unbelievably horny. A barrage of almost hourly daydreams, most of which involved his hands in some way, shape or form. 

Your marking scheme had gone straight to Hell- especially after you’d set your students an essay about a hero who had inspired them. Half of the papers had been about All Might and you’d thrown A’s left, right and fucking centre at them.

Even the terrible ones.

 The nights held no reprieve either.

 There hadn’t been one that had gone by where you didn’t wake up, breathing hard and sweating like you’d just run twenty blocks in the midday sun. It was exhausting. It was like your body was always on edge, longing for another touch, another look. 

The constant nervous tension was getting to you and your concentration had suffered for it.

 All because Toshinori Yagi had fucking fantastic hands and was withholding access to them.

 You had to shake yourself to bring reality rushing back.

 “So… what? You just get me off once and then run for it? Is that how it is, Toshinori? Did it really mean that little to you?” you asked inspite of yourself. You hadn’t actually meant to say those things.

You hadn’t even realised that you were this upset about it. So much for not taking it personally. His head shot up, eyes wide with surprise when what you’d said finally registered. 

“You could have just told me. You didn’t need to- I dunno. Spare my feelings,” you said, quietly.

 “What!? No! Tha- That’s not it at all!” he yelped, standing from the couch with surprising speed.

 “Then what is it? Did you not enjoy yourself?” you said and rested a hand in the centre of his chest. His whole body tightened under your palm, like every muscle was being electrocuted just because you were touching him. You looked up at him through your eyelashes, watching the red rising up along his neck like he was going to start blowing steam from his ears.

 “Of course I enjoyed it,” he said at last and to your surprise, his voice didn’t shake once. His hand did though, when he brought it up to cover yours. “Every second of being with you like- like that,” he said and swallowed hard. You tilted your head to the side, eyes searching his face. “Things were just a little overwhelming, especially after Eraserhead finding us. I don’t deal with things like that well.”

 That was an understatement. You gave him an understanding half smile. It had been embarrassing for both of you.

 You had studiously avoided Shouta for the better part of three days and it only just dawned on you that Toshinori had probably done the same. Not that Shouta seemed to care much about the whole thing beyond getting his money.

 He hadn’t mentioned it again.

 “Look, Toshi, I get it okay? Heh, at least I think I do-” you tried, sighing when the words refused to come. Maybe it was because of the low, dull throb between your legs or maybe it was because he looked so damn good in that suit but you were distracted. “But I’d prefer it if you talked to me about it instead of hoping it’ll just go away.”

 “I didn’t want it to-” he started, but then stopped himself. “I thought things would be alright between us if I just stayed away. A dumb plan, admittedly,” he flashed you a sheepish smile and squeezed your hand in his.

 “Listen,” you said slowly, “Could you maybe, you know, shrink down please?”

 He shot you a bemused look and you could guess it was the same as the look he’d given you back in the coat closet the first time you’d asked. It wasn’t something that many people asked him to do often.

 “What? Why?” he asked, clearly caught off guard. Good. That gave you a higher chance of actually getting him to do as you asked. It felt like you needed to prove a point. That you were interested in Toshinori too- not just All Might. “I still have a few hours to go…”

 “Does it make you uncomfortable? You don’t have to,” you acquiesced, although reluctantly. You knew there was a line for him but... as much as you wanted him to be comfortable with you, you didn’t want to have sex with him now if he was in his muscular form. It would entirely defeat the purpose of you being here.

 “No, no, it’s alright,” he said after a beat and to your relief he did as you asked. The room quickly filled with smoke.

 He didn’t actually lose much height on you, you noticed, once you had wafted the smoke away and he’d recovered from his coughing fit. Straightening up from where he’d been bent at the waist, you thumbed a line across his bottom lip absently, wiping away blood.

 “Sorry,” he grunted, scrubbing his hand over his face to make sure there was nothing left. It had sounded painful and you knew it happened often.

 “Are you okay?” you asked, searching his face. Your hand still lay on his chest, thumbing absentminded circles against his shirt and he met your gaze with those vivid, strikingly blue eyes that always took the words out of your mouth. Your stomach swooped in your gut and a low, excited throb pulsed between your thighs.

 The longing ache from earlier worsened.

 “M’fine,” he said softly, not looking at you any more but at the blood on your hand instead. A forced, incredulous laugh made it’s way out of his mouth and it instantly set you on edge. That was not the way he usually laughed. “So kid. Is this better? Am I any easier on the eyes?” he asked and the questions were tinged with a bitterness you’d never heard from him before. 

You didn’t like it at all and the question got your back up almost immediately.

 “Yeah, actually it is,” you answered defensively, eyes narrowing as though daring him to argue with you.

 He laughed that not right laugh again and it was like ice.

 “Is that right? Well. Take a good look,” he said and stepped back, arms splayed wide. The suit that would have usually been stretched across his broad chest, hung on him now. His expression was far from the usual happy go lucky Toshinori that you’d fallen for. He really was full of so much self-loathing that it astonished you. The number one hero, Symbol of Peace and saviour of Japan- hated himself. Really hated- and that twisted your stomach painfully. 

“Is this really what you want in your bed at night?”

 Your face dropped, expression full of pain. But not for you. For him- because he really did believe that he wasn’t good enough in this form. That he was somehow lesser.

 He must have seen the hurt in your eyes because his expression softened all of a sudden and his arms dropped back to his sides. He looked away, ashamed of his outburst.

 “I’m sorry,” he muttered, exhaling tiredly. “I shouldn’t be taking my insecurities out on you. It’s not your fault. I guess this isn’t what you expected after everything, huh?” 

You had been silent for a few moments but that question needed an answer.

 “Yeah.”

 He looked up at you, confused.

 “Yeah?” he parroted.

 “I want you in my bed every fucking night,” you said breathlessly and without giving him any more time to over think, you yanked him forward by his tie. He crashed into you and before he could say anything you were kissing him hard, tangling your fingers in the soft hairs at the base of his neck.

 He only flailed a little bit much to your amusement and eventually his fingers wrapped over your shoulders, finding purchase.

 You only pulled back an inch or so to breathe before crowding him, not giving him a single moment more to be down on himself, or to cast doubt on your very obvious intentions. You wouldn’t hear another bad word about himself come out of his mouth.

The back of his legs hit the couch and he stumbled, landing with a little ‘oomph’ and the adorably dazed expression that you’d kissed onto his face.

 You wasted no time and straddled his thighs, one arm braced on the back of the couch beside his head and the other blissfully free to roam across his chest.

 “You’d never break a promise to a fan, would you Toshi?” you murmured, purposely being vague. He looked confused, his head cocking to the side as he managed to focus on your words instead of the fact that you were in his lap.

 “I made you a promise?”

 “A million orgasms? Remember? I do. It’s all I’ve been thinking about,” you admitted, fingers toying with the knot of his tie. Idly undoing it and then his shirt collar, you ducked your head and trailed a line of kisses across his throat. 

It was true. Every moment, every spare second of every day, that promise had taken up your thoughts- as well as all the ways he could fulfil it. With his hands, his mouth, his cock. You had been a woman possessed.

 Toshi’s hands were almost burning as he slid them up along your back and a delicious shiver raced along your spine.

 “I’m sorry,” he said abruptly and you stopped your assault on his neck, lazily bringing your face up to his. His expression was earnest prompting you to press another kiss to his lips, sweet this time instead of hungry. You knew from his tone that he was being honest, serious. “I’m sorry for- for avoiding you like a coward. I didn’t mean to make you feel like I didn’t want you. I did. I do. I just-” he paused, head falling back while his hands came to rest on your hips. “I dunno. I don’t know what to say to you, sweetheart. You could do so much better.”

 “Bullshit,” you said sharply, trying and failing to stop your voice from sounding angry. How could he ever think that? After all the things he’d done? The sacrifices he’d made for others while he kept the world safe? And always, always with a smile.

“You’re a good man Toshinori. If everyone could be a little more like you, then the world would be a fucking awesome place to live.”

 “Thank you but that’s not what I meant. I do appreciate it though,” he said, smiling at you as his hand came up to cup your cheek and he swept a thumb over your cheekbone. “I dunno if you’ve noticed but I’m old kid. Past my prime. You’re…” he trailed off with an almost disbelieving laugh, his eyes roaming over you from where you were seated in his lap, up to your face and back again. 

You flushed under his appreciative gaze, well aware of what he was thinking of when he looked at you like that.

“Younger,” he managed at last. “Gorgeous. Sexy. A million other things. I-”

 He stopped himself, meeting your wide eyed look with an honest one of his own. You had been rendered speechless, the caress of his eyes like he was running his hands over you. He’d never opened up this much and you were drinking it all in- thinking of ways to tell him he was wrong and all the while trying not to preen under his compliments.

 “I’m terrified.”

 Not what you’d been expecting. You blinked stupidly at him for a moment before those unused gears in your head finally began to be useful again.

 “Terrified? Of what?” you asked, confused as all Hell. “Of wanting me? You can’t really think that it’s so out there. Age differences don’t matter to me-”

 “No, not that. Look,” he said, his blush adorably bright as he tackled your questions. You shut up for a moment at last, letting him talk. “I haven’t had someone look at me the way you did last week in- in years.”

 His eyes darted down to his side and you followed his gaze- well aware that he meant since before he’d been injured. Before he’d almost died, was the silent addition and you felt an uncomfortable unease when you thought about him not being here any more.

 You distracted yourself, focusing on the sound of his voice instead and enjoying the soft vibrations you could feel through his shirt.

 “Definitely not when I’m like this. Although, All Might stills gets plenty of attention,” he said with a roll of his eyes, obviously fed up with it all. “I can safely say, no-one has ever shoved my hand down their pants and let me touch them like you did. Not when I look the way I do now.”

 While you were immensely proud of your own confidence the week before, you still couldn’t quite grasp what he was trying to tell you. Shifting in his lap, you leaned into the hand that hadn’t left your cheek.

He gave you a pointed look and suddenly, it clicked.

 “Wait... you’re telling me that you’ve never had sex in this form. Ever,” you deadpanned, disbelief evident in your voice. It was almost unthinkable, to you anyway. But the way he looked at you was proof enough that he wasn’t pulling your leg.

 A wave of cold washed over you as it slowly dawned on you that the first action this big, lovable sweetheart had gotten since he’d been hospitalised had been a quick fumble in the dark with your angry ass. 

The least romantic thing that could ever have happened in the history of fucking humanity- and yeah, you knew that was dramatic but what the fuck!? All of this, with the added bonus of one of his co-workers eavesdropping not ten feet down the hall.

 Shit.

 If you’d have known then… then, you would at least have burned a fucking candle or something. Put up a little mood lighting! Or at least checked to see if anyone was listening.

The knowledge that he probably didn’t even mind your advances and poor planning made you feel even worse. He’d just gone along with it.

 “I did try, you know?” he said uncomfortably after a drawn out moment of you silently freaking out. You reluctantly came back to the room and sucked in a breath, attempting to not look too panicked. This did not sound like it was about to have a happy ending. “After psyching myself up for days I actually got up the courage to go out to a bar like this. I even approached a few women but-” he trailed off, shrugging helplessly.

 “Did it um… go well?” you asked and he laughed, but it was humourless. The same kind of laugh from earlier that had chilled you. He softened though, noticing the look on your face.

“No, kid. It didn’t go well.”

“Oh,” you replied, voice small.

 “I’ve never had a woman look at me like she was, I don’t know. Repulsed, before,” he threw the word out like it meant nothing but fuck, it felt like he’d hit you. The air vanishing from your lungs in an instant. He just tossed words like that around and had no idea how much they affected you. “It’d always been so easy for me but after that night… I just never wanted to feel like I did again. So I didn’t try.”

When he finally looked up at you, he almost jumped, the emotions written clearly on your face.

 You weren’t gonna cry. You were not going to cry. Fuck. Too late.

 Scrubbing at the corners of your eyes, you sniffed hard and turned your head away from his startled expression. You couldn’t look at him, sitting there, so sweet and earnest and lovable. You couldn’t think about it, about him going home alone that night and wondering what was wrong with him.

 Thinking he wasn’t good enough as he was.

 It was too painful.

 “Shit! Are you alright!?” he choked in alarm, ducking his head around until you were forced to look him in the eye. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

 Swallowing back your stupid tears, you nodded and wiped your arm across your face.

 “Those people were fucking morons,” you managed savagely after a moment of silently collecting yourself. That was one of the nicer words that came to mind. You didn’t want to say what you actually thought because you didn’t want to start on a vulgar rant that could last for, easy, an hour.

His smile brightened your mood though.

 “Huh, well,” he laughed all soft and embarrassed like, rubbing his hand across the back of his neck. “It’s nice of you to say so- but even if I had gotten further than asking for their numbers... I don’t think it could have gone anywhere. My confidence was just shot. This…” he gripped his side softly, eyes darting down.

 He trailed off, not finishing his sentence but you got the gist of what he wanted to say.

 That scar that haunted him both mentally and physically was hard to forget about. The constant elephant in the room, whether between you and him or him and his career. You couldn’t do anything about that second one but, at least you had a little bit of power over the first.

Ignoring your whirling emotions for a moment, you managed to calm yourself enough to talk properly.

 “Hey, look at me, big guy.”

 You used the nickname you used when he was All Might. Big guy. He always smiled when you called him that- and not that well practised hero smile either. A real smile. The one that made your heart skip a beat.

 Now was no different. The corners of his mouth rose slowly and then he was gracing you with a soft, gorgeous grin that lit up the fucking room.

 You almost forgot what you were going to say. His eyes tentatively met yours and the words came back to you, despite how heavy your tongue felt in your mouth.

 “Toshinori, I know this is hard for you, okay?” you said, swallowing back all the words and emotions that threatened to pour out of you and picking your words carefully instead. “I know you’ve had bad experiences in the past and it might be difficult to trust me... but you’ve known me long enough now to know that I don’t fuck around with things like this. I would never hurt you like that.”

 “Yeah, yeah I know,” he replied lowly, and his forehead fell against yours.

 While he didn’t look entirely convinced, his body did relax somewhat between your legs and he actually tilted forward to kiss you- which sent a little thrill along your spine. You were happy to accept it.

 It became heated quickly, the palm of one of his hands pressing between your shoulders to bring your body closer to his. You arched your back, your stomach and breasts plastered to his front by the time you tore your mouth away to breathe. 

The hard line of his cock pressed up between your legs, giving you a good idea that his body’s needs were far outpacing his reluctant thoughts.

 “You make me so fucking hot, Toshi,” you muttered and he captured your mouth again in another searing kiss, his free hand carding fingers through your hair. It was soothing and you found the tension you’d been holding in your shoulders all day, easing.

 “You sure you’re not trying to kill me?” he replied when he pulled back, his voice hoarse and needy at the same time. You bucked playfully in his lap and tugged at his open shirt collar, bringing his face close to yours.

 “Like I would kill you before I’ve seen you naked,” you pointed out, as though it was obvious.

 Despite the entire conversation up until now and the fact that you were sitting in his lap and raring to get this party started- he still flashed you an uneasy smile at the mere mention of him getting undressed.

 Thankfully, you were more than prepared for this eventuality. You had put a little bit of thought into this other than, ambush him in his office and ride him on the couch.

Although, you got an A for the plan so far. 

 “Hey, look at me,” you soothed reassuringly, lifting his chin with your finger. He did, the corners of his mouth turning down. “Don’t sweat the small stuff. We’ll do this one step at a time and you can stop me whenever you want. I won’t be upset, okay?” 

He nodded, looking at you with fucking hearts in his eyes. You knew your expression was much the same so you could hardly tease him about it.

“I’ll even go first to ah- make you more comfortable,” you shot him a wink, smoothing your hand over his cheek. You knew how self conscious he was but you weren’t about to let that spoil his good time. If he was more comfortable being fully clothed and you being naked, then so fucking be it.

 Besides, the thought made you kind of hot. It was like being called to the principal’s office for being naughty-

Oh. Wow. There was a fantasy that was just waiting to be explored. There was time for all of those things later though. Right now, this was about him.

 Your offer of getting naked didn’t seem to rid him of his nervous tension though. If anything it made it worse. You slid out of his lap all the same, subtly surveying him.

 A gut wrenching rush of heat and wetness spread between your legs when you did.

 All he was doing was sitting there and he was managing to turn you into a needy, aroused mess.

 Granted, he was very, very attractive to you right now- even if he might not think so.

 He was reclined back, his cheeks pink and his hair a mess from where you’d been gripping handfuls of it. His lips were well kissed and his chest was rising and falling rapidly- tie hanging loose around his neck. His legs, all long and lean were falling open and the hard outline of his cock was straining against the fabric, ready to be free.

 Honestly, it was a miracle that you could stand up at all, let alone be moderately sexy while you stripped for him. But by the time you were naked- your panties thrown over your shoulder to land on his desk- he was as equally fucking ruined as you were.

 He’d clenched his hands into fists, his knuckles white and his teeth gritted like he longed to reach out and touch you but wouldn’t do so without permission.

 Feeling oddly confident despite the difference in dress, you stepped between his legs and waited as he trailed his eyes up and over you. 

“You can touch me, ya know,” you reminded him after a moment. His tongue darted out to wet his lips and slowly- oh so fucking slowly- he reached out a hand and rested it lightly on your stomach. His hand was big and his palm hot when he splayed his fingers out and they brushed the undersides of your breasts.

 It was no wonder you’d been a little sore the day after your excursion in the closet. His fingers were long and there had been many times that you’d become hyperfixated on them before now.

 “Is this better?” you asked, voice husky and hopefully sexy.

 He glanced up at you face, giving you a nervous laugh. 

“You’re beautiful,” he said reverently, his gaze wandering in a heated path from your head to your feet- lingering on your breasts and then on the apex of your thighs.

His hand slid to your hip and with a strength that belied his skinny frame, he tugged you back into his lap. You laughed as you stumbled into his embrace but it quickly morphed into a moan when his mouth closed over your nipple.

 His other hand came up to cup your breast, his thumb sweeping a wide circle over the peak and you could do nothing but whimper like an idiot in heat as he lavished attention on you. The sweet pull of his lips, the sharp nip of his teeth and then the soothing stroke with the flat of his tongue had your head swimming while long fingers worked you diligently.

You could feel your arousal threatening to drip along the inside of your thigh, sticky and hot and you wanted him to feel it too.

 On the other hand though, you didn’t particularly want to ruin his suit pants. You’d already made him come in his hero outfit and the dry cleaning for that material was probably expensive as fuck. It was only that vague thought in the back of your head that made brought you back to reality and tug on his hair to get his attention.

 He glanced up at you with a hum of questioning.

 Leaving one last longing kiss between your breasts, he reluctantly pulled away and let you attach your lips to his again. He was deceptively good with his tongue, you thought suddenly. You could hardly wait for him to eat you out.The thought made your thighs quiver in anticipation and it wasn’t abated when his hands slid along the back of them and then up, covering your ass.

 His fingertips dug into the soft flesh, pulling you closer.

 The slow build of confidence you were seeing was addictive. You wanted him to show you just what you’d been missing these past few months. You wanted him to make you scream like you had in that closet and the mere thought of his fingers sliding into your aching pussy made your head light.

 He might not have done anything like this in a few years, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have a few tricks up his sleeve either.

 His mouth dipped to your throat and that son of a bitch knew how high you wore your shirts because he stopped just below an invisible line and promptly sucked a dark mark into your skin. Your pussy clenched around nothing longingly and you fisted your hand in his shirt, unable to even protest.

 The thought of being marked by him was simply too arousing.

 “Toshi,” you admonished playfully, pressing a kiss to the side of his head so he knew you weren’t actually mad. He gave a coy laugh, humming against your skin and you felt him smile rather than saw it.

 “Sorry kid,” he rumbled, fingers squeezing your hips now instead of your ass. You kind of missed the grip he’d had on you, keeping you close to his eagerly straining cock. Fuck, you wanted to take him inside you as soon as possible. “I got a little carried away.”

 “You know, you’re going to have to stop calling me kid eventually. Otherwise this might get weird,” you pointed out, trailing your gaze over his flushed face. He gave you a lopsided, sheepish smile and the tips of his ears went pink.

 “Force of habit. You are younger than me, you know.”

 You tutted and rolled your eyes but your half smile gave you away.

 “Come on, Toshi. You act like you’re ancient sometimes. Live a little, old man.”

 He laughed. A genuine, full laugh that had you not knowing whether to cry, kiss him or just ride him until you were both exhausted. Then to your surprise, he wrapped you up in his arms with a playful growl and kissed you.

 Oh yeah, number three was definitely winning.

 Even though you were naked and he wasn’t, you didn’t feel the kind of reluctant embarrassment you might have felt with anyone else. Toshi was the last person who would ever judge you and knowing that bolstered your confidence enough to tug his face up to yours. 

You tugged your bottom lip between your teeth.

 “Wanna know a secret?” you asked, noticing the moment his eyes became entranced by your mouth. He made to move forward- almost not hearing your question- but your hand on his chest made him stop.

 “Huh? You have a secret?” he said and when your smile turned wolfish, his grip tightened where it was already digging into your waist. If it was nerves you weren’t sure but you said nothing about it. 

 “I’ve been thinking about doing this all week. Sneaking into your office and fucking you.”

 “Oh?”

 He might have aimed for nonchalant but he missed by a mile, his voice cracking a little when he swallowed. You watched his Adam’s apple bob and heard the sharp little inhale of breath that hitched in his throat. Your tongue swept over your bottom lip now, keeping his attention on your mouth.

 “Do you remember that day in the teacher’s lounge?”

 The day he’d stood like an awkwardly adorable beanpole in the corner while the principal talked, looking everywhere but at you and then had split before you could even talk to him. He shot you a very apologetic look when he remembered his behaviour but you shut him up before he could say anything about it- your finger trailing across his lips lightly.

 “The whole time, I was thinking about sucking your cock.” He choked out a noise but you hushed him, not quite finished with your story yet. “Just, getting on my knees and taking you into my mouth... Honestly, I was super unprofessional.”

 A giddy little thrill ran through your body at admitting your little secret fantasy. 

 To your surprise, he didn’t pop a blood vessel like you thought he would. Instead, his eyes darkened and slowly, tentatively, he drew the finger that you were tracing over his lips into his mouth. A fresh wave of arousal washed over you at the unexpected, but welcome, turn of events.

 With your other hand, you slowly began to undo the buttons on the front of his shirt.

 Even though his eyes were trained intently on your face, he didn’t protest or ask you to stop- much to your relief. He released your finger with a soft, wet pop and in a bit of a daze, you made quick work of his tie.

 Instead of throwing it to one side, you circled it around your neck and let the soft, smooth material fall between your breasts. His eyes followed it and you were glad to give him something else to focus on other than the slow exposure of his chest and stomach.

 “Does it suit me?” you asked, the tip of your tongue pressing against a sharp canine and your expression scandalous.

 He snorted, unable to stop himself from laughing at your ridiculous expressions.

 “It’s never looked better, that’s for sure,” he said, his hands sweeping up along your sides to press your breasts together around the soft line of the tie. “You’re so fucking pretty,” he muttered, half to himself and half out loud. Then his whole face went beet red when he realised that you had heard him- like you would be mad at him for saying it.

 On the contrary, a rush of affection filled you to the point that you simply had to lean into him and nuzzle a sweet kiss to his mouth. You butted your forehead against his gently, your noses touching.

 Jesus, just how blue were his eyes?

 Button by button, his shirt fell open between you and by the time you were finished looking at him like he was offering you the moon, you could see the barest glimpse of the dark pink, shiny skin peeking out from one side.

 You made sure that you didn’t let your gaze linger for a moment more than necessary.

 Instead, you focused on everything else that you could see.

 You found yourself pleasantly surprised. For a man as skinny as he was- his body was mostly lean, solid muscle. While you could just make out his ribs, the rest of him was nicely built. You trailed a hand along the newly exposed skin, all tan and warm under your touch. You followed a path down between his pectoral muscles and across the still faintly defined six pack that he was sporting.

 When the muscles twitched under your hand, you threw a playful glance at him.

 “You’ve been holding out on me,” you said accusingly, a throaty chuckle slipping out when he looked confused. Exhilaration mixed with adrenaline was making you giddy and before he could say anything remotely bad about himself, you swooped forward and kissed him- pressing your naked form against him and rolling your body into his embrace.

 You wanted him, needed to feel him everywhere. You couldn’t get close enough.

 His arm came up across your back, fingers splaying between your shoulder blades as he held you firmly to his body.

 After a moment of slow, lazy kisses, you coaxed his tongue into your mouth to encourage him to him take the lead. Sure, showering him with compliments and telling him how much you were enjoying yourself was all well and good- but there wouldn’t be anything better for his confidence than letting him take control of the whole thing.

Besides, you were happy to have him set the pace if it meant he was relaxed with you.

 “I want you on top of me,” you murmured and you gasped when his mouth suddenly dipped to the hollow of your throat. His tongue laved a line from there, across your collarbone to where he bit down lightly on your shoulder. “Toshi?”

 Saying his name seemed to finally awaken something in him because you were suddenly scooped up into his embrace and a second later, you found yourself looking up at the ceiling- encased in the lush cushions you’d been admiring earlier. 

They really were as comfortable as you’d thought they’d be.

 You were quickly distracted from you admiration of the furniture by a hard body slotting between your open thighs. He loomed over you, one big hand planted firmly in the cushions beside your head and the other suddenly cupping a handful of your breast.

 It was quickly becoming apparent that Toshinori was a breast man. 

He palmed each one softly, expertly and your nipples pebbled under the ministrations. He cocked his head, eyes fixed on your tits like he wasn’t planning on leaving them alone any time soon.

 He rolled one nipple between his thumb and forefinger, tugging it gently a few times before moving to the other to give it the same attention.

 You were breathing heavily by the time his fingers slid away from your nipples to the forgotten tie that rested in the valley of your breasts. Well. You’d forgotten about it while he was lavishing attention on you. Clearly he hadn’t.

 While he watched your expression, he deftly tied a knot to secure it around your neck.

 Hnng.

 You went utterly boneless, especially after he gave it a playful tug and it slid ever so slightly tighter around your throat. Sparks ignited in your stomach and flitted down between your thighs, tingling and tightening muscles in their wake.

 Well, that had been unexpected.

 You wanted him to do it again but lacked the diction to actually tell him and a low, eager whine escaped instead of words. He shot you a pleased smile and then sat back onto his knees, his shirt now hanging open to reveal his stomach.

 This time, you made sure that he knew where you were looking as your heated gaze sank downwards, lower and lower- drinking him in.

 The difference in dress must have finally gotten to him, especially the way he was staring at you and suddenly he was undressing, agonisingly slowly with his eyes on yours- and all you could do was lie there, a soaking mess of wordless wonder.

 He took his time with it and even though you knew it was partly because of his insecurities, you couldn’t help but wonder if he was subconsciously teasing you. You certainly felt teased with every new inch of skin revealed.

 His rumpled suit jacket was thrown over the back of the couch carelessly and then he was finally shrugging out of his too big shirt- only sparing a quick, curious glance at your face as he did. His cheeks were still bright pink but he said nothing- letting his actions speak volumes.

 He paused only once when he finally reached his belt buckle but you fixed him with a dark, heated look that spurred him to continue.

 Never had you been so aroused by watching a man strip before.

 Long, clever fingers slowly undid the buckle and the memory of those same fingers driving you to orgasm had your hips bucking involuntarily. His movements slowed as he looked away from what he was doing to your face.

 What a sight he made, you thought idly. Kneeling over you, his pants splaying open at the top and tented under the heaviness of his erection. He followed your gaze, coming to rest where you were looking and then, to your surprise, he palmed a hand over the outline of his cock- almost as though he was showing off.

 You swallowed hard, making a noise of impatience.

 His lips quirked noticeably and he went back to work, tugging off his shoes and socks and then going back to his trousers.

 Finally, he was naked. You sat up, reaching for him to bring him back to you, missing the heat of him on top of you. He followed you, nudging your thighs apart to kneel between them. 

His cock was thick, bobbing softly under it’s own weight and he gripped the base, stroking a slow line up along the shaft and then back again. A silvery bead of pre-cum leaked from the tip as he pulled his foreskin back, dripping down bit by bit until it threatened to fall.

You desperately wanted to catch it on your tongue, take him into your mouth- but this moment was his now. Your control had been handed over. 

 His scar took up a solid chunk of his torso,splashed across what was once smooth, unblemished skin. The wound had clearly been deep- and yeah, you didn’t really know all the details of how he’d gotten it but you could guess that it had been an agonising experience. It didn’t bear thinking about.

 The fact that he was here, that he was alive and warm above you was a testament to how amazing he really was. To have gone through all of that and survived it,come out fighting on the other side… He was astounding.

 “You with me, sweetheart?” he asked, his voice smooth and sweet, hovering hesitantly above you with his cock in one hand and the other gripping your thigh. You met his gaze solidly, a salacious grin splitting your face.

 “I’m right here,” you said softly, shimmying closer and bringing your knees up snugly against his hips. That was an invitation if there ever was one.

 “We can still stop if you want to-” he said, trailing off. You were both naked, inches away from each other and he was still trying to give you one last out. One last opportunity to change your mind.

 Like you would.

 He released his hold on your thigh, his hand cupping across his side and his eyes searching your face, the worry in them palpable. Was this suddenly too much? Were you coming to your senses at last?

Clearly slipping into deep thought had made you look reluctant to continue- in his eyes at least.

 “Don’t you dare,” you warned, your voice playful but laced with an underlying seriousness. “Toshinori, I’ve been getting myself off all week because of you. You don’t think I deserve a little something for all my suffering?” you asked quietly, before dipping your hand between your legs to rub a slow circle around your clit.

 It was a delightful feeling, pleasure igniting as you settled into the familiar touch- only made all the more intense knowing that he could see you doing it. He watched, breath bated and his shoulders tensed as you touched yourself- strokes lazy and unhurried.

 Nipping your lip, you tilted your hips upwards to give him a better view. Your thighs fell apart and you slipped your fingers lower, finding slick wetness and pressing inside.

 A gasp clawed up your throat without you even thinking and you sank two fingers in, practised and confident in your own expertise.

 To your delight, he forgot all of his insecurities for a moment. Long, nimble fingers folded around his cock and he began to stroke himself- all while intensely watching you masturbate for him. His thick moan split the air and it was like music to your ears.

 It was very arousing, watching him jerk off over you. Because of you.

 “Please Toshi,” you said, breathlessly. “I need you.”

 His answer was a filthy, eager groan and without any more thoughts of stopping or worry about what he looked like, he moved forward and pressed the tip of his cock between the swollen lips of your pussy. You jolted, inhaling a sharp, stilted gasp of pleasure at the sudden touch.

 “Please,” you chanted softly. “Please, please, please-”

 “Fuck,” was his choked response, the blunt head of his cock sliding through your wetness and bumping against your clit. He did it again, then again and you quickly realised that he was watching the expressions on your face intently. Once more, to draw another groan out of you and then he was pressing inside- pushing you apart and filling you inch by inch.

 Your thighs trembled around his waist and your head pressed into the couch below when your back arched.

 “Oh, Toshi!” you cried, pleasure racing through you. You were suddenly thankful that you didn’t have to worry about making too much noise. There was nothing holding you back here.

 He was stretching you far more than you’d thought he would and it very quickly toed the line between pleasure and pain. The adage that skinny guys have big dicks was definitely holding true because damn-

 It was almost too much but then he made a noise of absolute bliss and buried his face against your neck, teeth scraping your skin in a playful bite and you relaxed- just enough to feel comfortable taking him in further.

 His breath was scorching and you could feel the silent tension building in his arms- in the hand that was holding your hip up from the couch. He carried on inspite of it, sliding himself into you even further, deeper, making you crazy.

 He watched your face the whole time, drinking in your expressions.

 Eventually, he bottomed out and his pubic bone pressed against you, signalling that he was as deep as he could go.

 Your head span in delight. Toshinori, the man you’d been yearning for for months was currently balls deep in you- his breath catching in his throat and his fingers digging into your hip hard enough to bruise.

 The mere thought was enough to make you clench around him and his hips jerked reflexively. Red flushed across his cheeks as he fought with himself not to do it again.

 You stroked a gentle line down his back, fingertips dancing over his vertebrae one by one. As you went lower, you were constantly interrupted by the smooth skin of multiple scars and you wondered briefly just how many he had.

 But then he grunted softly into your ear and brought your attention back to the here and now.

 A shiver ran through him and you felt it- from your fingers to your pussy.

 “You okay?” you asked, your voice uneven as you tried not to shift your hips too much. Every movement, every sharp breath he took, ground him hard against your clit and you were beginning to throb with the unreleased tension.

 You didn’t want to come too soon. You wanted this to last for as long as it could.

 “Y-yeah… It’s just-” he said as steadily as he could, nuzzling his nose across your cheek as he semi-avoided answering your question. “S’been a while sweetheart. I don’t want to, um-”

 Your eyebrows rose in surprise. Ah, you hadn’t even thought of that.

 Hadn’t he made it perfectly clear that he hadn’t seen any action in a while? It would make sense that he would be a little over sensitive the first time. The thought of him losing control came unbidden and you couldn’t deny that it turned you on. Warmth and something else- something foreign rose in your chest and you cupped his cheek, tugging him down for a lazy, unhurried kiss.

 “Take as long as you need to, baby,” you said, squeezing softly around him and he choked out an embarrassed, almost nervous laugh.

 Whether it was over your not-so-accidental slip of the tongue or the current situation, you didn’t know. Probably a little of both.

 But if he got to call you ‘sweetheart’ and make you all pathetic and needy, then you could return the favour you decided.

 “I don’t want you to be uncomfortable,” he said, his breath catching when you hitched your legs higher again over his hips. You grinned up at him, circling your arms around his neck and stroking your fingers through his hair.

 “Believe me, Toshi. I’m far from uncomfortable… I like having you inside me,” you murmured, peppering little kisses down, from his bottom lip to his chin, and then to his sharp jawline. He slid his hand up along your side, sighing almost contentedly against your hair. “Feel so full. So good,” you continued, nipping at him teasingly.

 “Y-yeah?” he said.

 “Fuck yes Toshinori,” you sighed a pleased, longing sound and rose your hips a little to make sure he was as deep as possible.

 Having him resting inside you, all hot and hard was doing things to your head. Your inner muscles flitted and spasmed around him, relishing the stretch and while you could hardly wait for him to move- simply having this, being with him like this… it was so much more than you’d ever dreamed about.

 Far better than your wild fantasies of destructive fucking and hot rendezvous. Those were great, yeah and you had no doubt that you would get him there eventually… but this…

 Oh. This.

 It was real and he was here in your arms, looking at you with an expression akin to adoration. Giving him the confidence he deserved to have was more than you could have asked for. He nuzzled you again, stroking your hair away from your face and then pressing a kiss to the tip of your nose.

 You giggled, a noise that you would never have made in a thousand years in public. But it made him grin, all big and happy and then he moved his hips and your world went quiet- soft and hot and spinning all at the same time.

 It was just the two of you, here in this office- in this little bubble that reminded you of the week before. His forehead was pressed against yours and his fingers were roaming across your skin with an impassioned eagerness- thumbing over your nipples and then sliding between your bodies to rub circles against your clit.

 His hips snapped suddenly against yours and it drove him home inside you. You arched up, pressing your slick stomach against his. You could feel the rough texture of his scar against you and when you opened your mouth to suck in a shaky breath, he found it with his and stopped you in your tracks.

 He found a good rhythm fairly quickly, breathy sighs escaping him with every roll of his body into yours.

 It had already been a warm day and was even warmer in the office, and sweat beaded on his forehead.

 Your hands found purchase wherever they could and eventually, one drifted up along his injured side without you even thinking. He didn’t stop his thrusts but they did slow, his steady rhythm faltering a little bit. You realised what you were doing and your eyes found his, arm suddenly tense. You didn’t want to move your hand- wanted to feel all of him, every part.

 You never wanted him to feel repulsive again. Ever.

 However, Toshi said nothing.

 Instead, his eyes bore into yours with a deep, bone shattering intensity. Fuck that was hot. He didn’t take his gaze away from yours for a second and it was like you were in a trance as he reeled back slowly- oh so fucking slowly- before slamming back into you.

 The sudden force of the thrust rattled your brain and it also tore a frantic, strangled sound from your throat.

 Pleasure rocketed through your body and when he did it again, you knew to expect it and rolled with him, timing it so you met him halfway. He grunted, his jaw going slack and his eyes squeezing shut as he concentrated on the pleasure he was taking from your body.

 Your name fell from his lips and hit you like warm summer rain on your skin. You answered with a cry and a garbled mess of pleading- begging him to take you harder, take you faster, love you, fuck you- please, please-

 “Baby, please,” you sobbed as he switched to shallow, half halting thrusts. He barely pulled out at all with every stroke and it seemed as though he suddenly wanted to be as close to you as possible.

 You only just managed to register what happened next.

 Warmth engulfed the hand that you’d kept on his ruined side and you eventually managed to break through the haze of pleasure in a moment of lucidity, glancing down.

 Your heart skipped a beat in your chest, then regained it’s pace and thundered hard against your rib cage.

 Toshi’s big hand covered yours, pressing your palm against the one thing that made him the most vulnerable. It was an incredible show of trust from him and you lunged upwards with your free hand, pulling him into a frenzied, hot kiss- almost letting out a sob into his mouth.

 He moaned and your tongue met his, replying with a choked, needy groan of your own.

 “Perfect, you’re perfect baby-” you said hurriedly, feeling the winding, throbbing tension in your groin building to a release.

 His hips stuttered as you spoke and you knew that as much as he was trying to hold back his climax, he wasn’t going to last much longer. You wanted to see him come. Wanted to see the desperate, sweet pleasure in his expression that you’d caused him.

 As though he’d read your mind, he glanced down between you to the sight of him sliding in and out of you, then back to your face.

 “You haven’t-” he choked, clearly realising what you were trying to do. You squeezed hard around his cock again and his next sentence cut off midway with an almost agonised moan. “Fuck, you, you haven’t come yet.”

 “I will,” you murmured reassuringly, already nearing the peak. You needed to see him. “I will, I promise. I wanna see you come Toshi,” you pleaded, one hand stroking his side gently and the other tangled in his hair to keep his face close to yours. He looked like he was going to argue some more but you kissed him hard, all tongue and teeth and his whine was music to your ears.

 His pace turned frantic as he did as you wanted, chasing his orgasm with a fury.

 His hips slapped against your ass and you could feel your arousal dripping out of you, covering you both and making every thrust sound slick and wet. Obscene noises filled the little office and the heat drove you both onwards- a writhing mess on the couch.

 He tensed suddenly and a long line of expletives mixed with your name, turned the air blue.

 Toshi came hard and the look of sweet ecstasy on his face was glorious.

 His body shuddered, throwing his hips forward in small, shaky movements as he came inside you. Wet warmth spread between your legs and that, coupled with the grinding against your clit was enough to send you where you wanted to go.

 Your orgasm rose in easy, pulsing waves like water breaking on the rocks and he kept up the soft circles on your clit all the while- guiding you through it. Your inner muscles fluttered around him and he huffed out a laboured breath, his arm shaking under the weight of keeping him upright.

 As your orgasm slowly receded, you relaxed backwards and released a breath you hadn’t even realised you were holding. Cheeks red and hair a mess, Toshi stared at you the whole time- his expression gravitating between satisfaction and disbelief.

 “You okay?” you asked, knowing full well that he was hovering between both yes and no. Now that the haze of lust was gently dispersing, the fact that he was naked and very much exposed to you was probably creeping back up on him. “Hey, look at me Toshinori.”

 When he did as you asked and his eyes met yours, you flashed him a sly grin and tugged him down to lay on you. His arm gave out and he landed on you with a startled noise. Laughter bubbled out of you at his surprised expression but it quickly turned to one of fond affection instead, when he realised that neither of you were freaking out.

 He wasn’t as heavy as you’d thought he would be and his body fit nicely against yours.

 You could feel come dribbling out of you and down to the couch below, his softening cock still very much inside you. Neither of you had the energy to do anything about it though which, hey, was a real shame because this couch should honestly be in a fucking hall of fame somewhere. At least, in your opinion.

 Presenting it to said museum might pose a bit of a problem.

 After a long moment, filled with gentle touches and kisses, he finally spoke, rising up on his elbows to come face to face with you.

 “Hey.”

 You were pretty sure you looked like a mess- having just been royally fucked on a couch in the middle of the summer heat. But the way he looked at you made you feel like a movie star or some shit. His eyes sparkled with something unspoken but pleasant and you couldn’t stop the giddy smile that broke across your face.

 “Hi,” you managed to say at last, stroking his hair away from his forehead. “So um… are you gonna thank Hizashi after this? Because you probably should.”

 His laugh was loud, energetic and happy. He laughed like he used to and it drew all sorts of emotions that you’d been holding back to the surface. You blinked hard, feeling tears forming in the corners of your eyes when you did. Damn, stupid emotions, you thought bluntly.

 So you buried your face into his neck before he could see your tears. You didn’t want him thinking that he’d done something wrong and you didn’t want to explain why you were crying like an asshole after really great sex.

 “I’ll send him a card,” he chuckled, hugging you close to him and that just made the tears come harder than before- but you curled closer and discreetly wiped your eyes. His hand swept up along your side and you both lay quietly for a moment, you collecting yourself and him basking in the blissful afterglow.

 It took you a minute to get your emotions in check but you did eventually and soon, it was becoming far too warm laying underneath him. As reluctant as you were to move, you nudged him and he took the hint- slipping out of you at last and rolling to the side.

 You shifted, pillowing your head on your arm. It was, thankfully, an easy task being face to face with him while you were both horizontal. He grinned, mirroring your pose and for a few moments you both lay like that- his free hand tracing lazy circles against the softness of your stomach.

 In the warmth of the room and the heat from his body, it would have been easy to drift into a dozy sleep but you resisted the pull of exhaustion.

 Instead, you trailed a finger across his scar, finally taking the time to look at it properly. He tensed more out of habit than anything else, but said nothing to stop you as you explored. You were almost fascinated by the pattern it made. Like a sunflower burned into his skin.

 “I would punch them,” you said finally, looking back to his face and finding his expression light and almost pleased.

 His eyebrow quirked in curiosity, a half smile forming on his lips.

 “Punch them? Who?”

 “The person who did that to you. I would punch them. So fucking hard,” you said firmly, with a conviction you didn’t know you possessed. His expression softened and his gaze dipped to your lips as though he wanted to kiss you. Then, he remembered that he was technically allowed to kiss you and so he did, dipping forward to find your lips- languid and hot.

 “No need to, kid,” he said when he pulled away. “I already did.” Pride tinged his voice when said that. “Besides. I would never let him get close enough to you to punch. Never.”

 He gave you a stern look but it didn’t hold much weight seeing as his hair was sticking up in every direction and you were both still very naked. It was difficult to pull off serious when you were naked. True facts. Sliding your thigh between his legs, you watched his expression change from serious to amused when you waggled your eyebrows at him.

 “Heh, you liiiiike me,” you singsonged childishly and he snorted, rolling his eyes as though he could deny it. “C’mon Toshi,” you jabbed him lightly in his uninjured side and he jerked, choking out a laugh. He was ticklish it seemed. “Admit it. You wanna kiiiiiss me-”

 You were abruptly and very rudely, in your opinion, cut off when he did just that. But you were both smiling too hard for it to be a proper kiss- simply giggling and laughing against each others mouths.

 Your teasing had clearly lightened his mood even more and honestly, if you could make him look like this every day for the rest of your lives, you’d happily do it. In the back of your mind, you wondered if he’d like that too.

 You hummed a pleased sound, butterflies erupting in your stomach.

 “Yeah, I guess I do,” he said. He didn’t elaborate which part he was talking about, but you didn’t mind.

 Either one was good for you.

[commonwealthoccurences]

Cheers (Elder Maxson)

Note: We’re assuming Sole is around the same age as Maxson in this; a middle-aged Sole with 19 year old Maxson is an iffy concept to me. Thank you to the Discord server for fixing my writers block! Also, weird analogies for 500, anyone? Mildly OOC Maxson.

CW: Potential death mention, abstract/rhetorical poisoning

It’s easy, Sole thinks at the end of the day, to drink poison. To tilt your head back and surrender to what may come, no matter what. It’s easy to allow yourself to be captured in the will of whatever's been mixed into your glass, slightly acidic, barely masked, and pretend to be unknowing. Knowing Elder Maxson has been like drinking poison, and so, they think it must be very easy to allow oneself to do so.

They’re staring into the wine that’s been handed to them, a deep plum color swirling in the foggy glass it’s been poured into. In another timeline, this wouldn’t be the last they’d share with him, and there was a much more content life waiting for them at the end of their internal battles. But they often told themself they weren’t one for wishful thinking, and with that, returned their attention to the man himself, who sat, quiet and contemplative, across from them.

On any other evening he’d be lounged across the plush cushions next to them, a sharp contrast to the usual appearance he showed every other member of the Brotherhood. There’d be a lazy grin on his face, a little too much wine wiping away the stern expression that’d been burned into the lines of his skin, and the two of them would be deep in the throws of a playful debate. Sole had lost that privilege, though.

Just as Maxson had lost the privilege of seeing them with their head tilted back, a laugh shaking their frame, delight taking over the weight of the world that they held between their strong shoulders. Two friends, or something more, turned strangers. What a twist. “Is this it?” Sole spoke up. Maxson had resumed his public facade, and they knew he wouldn’t be the one to break the silence.

“I suppose it is.”

The meeting of their gazes brought both of their internal battles to the forefront, images of warfields flashing between the pair. Sole clenched their jaw and tilted their head up, still trying to remain casual in the way they spun the wine in the glass. They didn’t dare take a sip; they wouldn’t put it past him to actually poison it, and as much as they cared for him, there was a reason the air was so tense.

Sole had made it into the Brotherhood a little shell shocked from their experiences with the Wasteland, looking for structure and someone to have their back as they fought to survive. Of course, the Brotherhood was much more than that, and didn’t hesitate to introduce their bigotry, disguised as defensive beliefs, as soon as Sole stepped through the doors to the Prydwen.

They were unsure at first of where they stood. Ever the scholar, they tried to remain neutral and stand back, observing, as they made their way through the beginnings of their Brotherhood experience. Other than Nick Valentine, they had never met a synth; maybe he was an exception, and the Brotherhood was right in the idea that they weren’t to be trusted. They’d found themself in the company of Elder Maxson more than once at this point, eager to look through the cracks of the mask he wore and get to know the man behind the ideology, the intense scowls, and the unwavering leadership. They’d begun to debate as a pastime, and slowly, as the tapestry of his beliefs came into full view, they found themself suffocated.

The threads were frayed, woven by generations beforehand. Maxson’s contributions were made for no reason other than that he was told it was right, to add strength to a fabric that only caused pain to those that were innocent. Sole found themself edging closer to the tapestry with a thread ripper and magnifying glass, wanting to take apart every argument and excuse and bring forward the man behind the brainwashing that the Brotherhood was so fond of, but it was too late. It seemed that the threads had been woven into his skin as well, leaving no person outside of his anti-synth ideology.

They needed time away, and after one particularly intense debate-turned-argument, they asked for it. Maxson knew what was happening as soon as they were hesitant to look him in the eye, and when they finally did, there was no vulnerability like he was once given access to. They were choking on the smell of his soap and aftershave, suffocating on the tenseness flooding the room, and needed to get away to think.

After a month in Sanctuary, listening to synths and humans alike recount their tales, their life experiences identical in the way that both types of people hurt and thrived, became overjoyed and mourned losses, Sole went to seek out answers. In the back alleys of Diamond City they heard whispers of an organization, and went to find the Railroad.

They had a long talk with Deacon, looking over his own tapestry with a magnifying glass, shielding their eyes from the reflective, joking threads, so they could see the life lessons hidden beneath. Despite how hard it was to access, they found his tapestry much warmer, if not a bit worn from how many had taken refuge under its fabric. Every time they dug in and pulled at the threads, trying to find a fatal flaw, it held together like no other. One month away and they knew what they had to do.

It was hard to return to the Brotherhood, knowing their days there were limited. They’d seen the people before the ideology, instead of the other way around, and once considered many of them friends. But at the end of the day, the ends of their tapestries were coming loose, and Sole could no longer justify sticking around. They were smarter than that.

Maybe it was obvious, and a little immature, but they avoided Maxson upon their return to the best of their abilities. He tried to reach out to them, calling them in for meetings, upon which they kept their answers short and didn’t give any information as to what they had been up to during their escapades away from the Prydwen. But at the end of his third try, when his expression changed from curious and a little hurt to hardened and stern, they knew he understood. They had their own tapestry now, and didn’t need the refuge of any others. Certainly not his.

So when he invited them to one last evening together, they accepted. There was nothing they weren’t prepared for as they walked through the doors to his quarters and settled down on the couch. It was easier than they expected it to be, but they supposed the time away had already given them the opportunity to sever any hesitancy they would’ve once held.

They found themself indifferent to the intense discomfort in the air that would’ve pinned them to their seat just a month ago. Their breath remained in their lungs, their hands didn’t shake. They tilted their glass and stared at the liquid inside before placing it on the table in front of them and folding their hands together in their lap. “I sincerely hope you don’t plan on doing anything stupid, Sole.” Maxson’s voice was harsh, biting. He sipped his own drink.

They found a small smile betraying their lack of fear of the man in front of them. With a light sigh they glanced out the window. “Arthur, please. Let’s not pretend you haven’t been picking apart my brain for the last few months in the name of getting to know each other. Do you really believe me to be stupid?”

“I didn’t. And then you left for a month and returned doubting Brotherhood ideals. It seems you still have time to prove me wrong.”

“I think we can both agree a resistance to brainwashing is the exact opposite of stupidity.”

Sole sighed and brushed the palms of their hands down their thighs. They stood with little hesitancy and made their way over to one of the windows that decorated the walls of Maxson’s quarters. The view was one of the few things they’d miss about the Prydwen.

Of course, they supposed they could understand how members of the Brotherhood became so out of touch with the Wasteland. Everything felt so untouchable from their perch in the sky, rocking gently in the light winds that flooded the ground with radiation. Staying, surrounded by the hivemind and far away from any contradicting opinions, would’ve been the death of any independent thought from Sole.

They would miss Arthur, not Maxson, and the way they thought they were two separate people just a few months ago. It was easy to pretend, when he had been less than sober and forgot everything he thought was his responsibility. His thoughts flowed more readily into speech; the first slip he had made was calling Sole beautiful as they leaned against that very window, looking up at the stars that almost appeared to be within reach from where they sat in the sky.

It had caught Sole by surprise, though they supposed it shouldn’t have. Yes, Arthur was in a position of power, arguably one of the highest in the Wasteland across the factions, but they had spent enough time with him at that point to know he fell victim to alcohol. Well, that’s what they pretended.

Arthur was no lightweight. They could see it in the way his movements still remained controlled in contrast to his words. It was an excuse, they’d realized, after just two nights, to say what was on his mind instead of what he had been taught to say.

Maybe that’s why they thought they could get to him at first. Unravel some of the tapestry that had dug deep into his skin and latched onto his mind. It seemed as if he wanted free of the Brotherhood mindset and the way everyone looked to him. It showed when they were together in the low lamplight of his quarters, alone in a space that didn’t allow for his facade, and he looked 19 again instead of aged beyond recognition.

His hand brushed across their cheek and they fought hard to keep their attention out the window; they wouldn’t let him exploit vulnerability that should’ve never been given in the first place. They were hyper aware of the placement of his hand, knowing that into two smooth motions they could be on the floor, dead. Instead, he hooked a finger under their chin, and they felt a kiss placed to their forehead. Then, he was out of their space and across the room, busying himself behind his desk with paperwork. They were dismissed, for the last time.

Just a week later, it was easier than expected for the words to spill out of their mouth and into Deacon’s ears. Descriptions of the Brotherhood’s guard shifts, the weakest point of their aircraft, protocols and every hidden weapon they knew about. They didn’t choke, didn’t waver. They had seen too much upon their return to the Railroad; synths injured from the hate the Brotherhood had spread, members fatally wounded when they jumped to defend. Sole had reveled too long in the privilege of ignorance and the company of a man who, despite being tragically indoctrinated, they could no longer lend sympathy to when they had to bear witness to the consequence of his actions.

Maxson’s last mistake was assuming that the silent goodbye they’d shared just one week earlier would be their last. Sole was ready to take a torch to his tapestry, and they were the last person he should’ve assumed was stupid enough to let him go easily.

[ibijau]

welp, here’s my part of a winter exchange organised by on the xisang discord! I got to write for @scumvillainrights and it was fun~

It was Nie Huaisang’s fault for arriving a day early. He had just felt too impatient to visit the Cloud Recesses again. That, and it was just so cold at the altitude he flew at, so he had pushed himself hard to reach his destination faster. The downsides to that, he’d found out upon arriving to the gate of the Cloud Recesses, was that nothing was ready to receive him, and that the sect leader was absent dealing with some other business, as were Lan Qiren and Lan Wangji.

Having been given a jade token even before his brother’s death, Nie Huaisang was still allowed inside, but it was clear to him that the Lans just didn’t quite know what to do with him. And while it would have been easy, and perhaps even mildly funny to embarrass those Lan disciples by requesting a room be given to him right away to rest and refresh himself, Nie Huaisang simply did not feel like being cruel. It really was his fault for being early this once, when he was usually more likely to be late. So Nie Huaisang assured the disciples welcoming him that he was in no hurry, and asked to be allowed to enjoy a walk in the Cloud Recesses, since they were so beautiful with the thin layer of snow that winter had brought.

The request, of course, was granted, and Nie Huaisang started wandering. Before long he realised that even the peaceful scenery of the Cloud Recesses couldn't lift his heavy mind, not this time, not anymore. The last few years had taken their toll on him, between the loss of his brother, the weight of responsibility, and the burden of revenge. Something had broken inside, Nie Huaisang thought. Something that not even this place he used to love could soothe, nor the perspective of finally having time with Lan Xichen again.

As he walked, deep in thought, Nie Huaisang’s feet took him to the hall where the Lans conducted punishment for disobedient disciples. This, at least, nearly made him smile. He used to come here often when he was a guest student, and it seemed his legs remembered the path too well. Still, it was no place for him to be. Nie Huaisang was about to turn away when he heard some singing.

Music, of course, was nothing unusual in the Cloud Recesses. Every disciple learned to play an instrument, usually the guqin. But because of Lan rules that favoured the quiet, it was rare to hear any singing. In fact, Nie Huaisang wondered if he'd ever heard such a thing before. It made him curious enough that he followed that voice inside the courtyard of the hall.

There, in the snow, with his back to Nie Huaisang, a kneeling boy was singing to himself. It couldn't have been part of his punishment to sing. In fact, Nie Huaisang was sure the boy would get harshly scolded if he were discovered by other Lan disciples.

A shame. The boy had a good, steady voice, full of energy but pleasant to the ear. It seemed out of place in the Cloud Recesses, the same way Nie Huaisang knew he did in the Unclean Realm.

Perhaps that was the reason why Nie Huaisang clapped when the song ended.

The boy cried out in surprise, again too loud for the Cloud Recesses, and turned to look at Nie Huaisang with big frightened eyes.

"Gongzi!" he exclaimed, quickly looking around in case Nie Huaisang weren't alone. "Are you lost, gongzi? I don't think visitors are allowed here."

Seeing his face, Nie Huaisang guessed the boy to be twelve or thirteen at most. Going by the steadiness of his singing, Nie Huaisang would have thought him to be older.

"Ordinary visitors maybe not," he admitted. "But I'm a friend of Lan zongzhu, and I have certain rights."

"You don't look like someone Lan zongzhu would be friends with," the boy retorted. "Aren't you dressed too fancy for the Cloud Recesses?"

Nie Huaisang smiled in spite of himself, delighted by this odd little Lan he'd stumbled upon. Gusu boys never usually managed that sort of open insolence, it was beaten out of them by the time they were ten.

"I really am Lan zongzhu's friend," he insisted, showing off his jade token to prove it. That particular type was only given to high ranking disciples normally, though Lan Xichen had also given them to his closest, most trusted friends.

"Oh, maybe you really are," the boy conceded. "Who are you? I thought only Jin zongzhu had one like that. Or are you… Ah, what's the other one…"

"I'm Nie Huaisang," came the answer, a little drier than it needed to be. But Nie Huaisang's rare good humour had fallen apart at the reminder that Jin Guangyao existed in the world.

"Nie zongzhu!" the boy gasped, bowing politely to him. "I'm sorry. I should have guessed by your colours."

"It's fine. And you are?"

"I'm Lan Jingyi, Nie zongzhu. I'm actually related to Lan zongzhu. We're cousins. Kind of."

The boy's name was unfamiliar, but that was hardly a surprise. Nie Huaisang has always struggled to remember names, unless the person was of direct interest to him.

"Nie zongzhu, are you going to denounce me for singing?" Lan Jingyi asked, looking up at him with worry. "I know I shouldn't have. If master Lan hears about it, he's going to scold me for making a racket again."

"Are those his words?"

Lan Jingyi shrugged with a carelessness that made Nie Huaisang nearly smile again. Then, remembering that he was talking to a person of some importance, Lan Jingyi quickly nodded and bowed again.

"Master Lan is trying to teach me to stop disrupting the peace," he explained. "I am very grateful for his efforts and I am trying to learn from him."

"If he called your singing a racket he's unfair," Nie Huaisang retorted. "You have a very lovely voice. Where did you learn to sing like that? You must have been trained to be this good?"

The instant he heard the praise, Lan Jingyi's face illuminated, as if he'd never received such a high compliment.

"Nie zongzhu is too kind!" he exclaimed. "I haven't been trained, except if you count singing with my father when I was little. I just enjoy it a lot, even if I know I shouldn't."

"Ah, I know the feeling," Nie Huaisang huffed with a half smile. "I'm glad you persevered. You really are quite good. In fact, I wouldn't mind another song, if that's agreeable to you. I won't tell master Lan and Lan zongzhu, I promise."

"Really?"

"Really."

Lan Jingyi's smile at being encouraged could have outshone the sun. He didn't hesitate and started another song right away.

He really had a good voice, especially if he had never received training for it. So good in fact that Nie Huaisang allowed himself to be carried away by the music without paying attention to the lyrics. They seemed to be mostly nonsense anyway, just random things set to the tune of a Lan melody which Nie Huaisang, belatedly, recognised as Cleansing

At any other time, it would have horrified him to hear again the music used to murder his brother. But set to silly lyrics, in the voice of this enthusiastic child, Nie Huaisang found that he didn't mind. If anything, Lan Jingyi made the melody feel peaceful again.

It had been a long, long while since Nie Huaisang had felt so calm.

That fragile peace was promptly broken by approaching footsteps.

"Lan Jingyi, do you know what rules you have just broken?" a stern voice asked in a tired tone, bringing the song to a sudden end.

Even before turning, Nie Huaisang recognised Lan Qiren and shivered. Even though he was no longer his student, some part of him still feared the strict teacher who used to terrify him. At least, Lan Qiren wasn't alone. When Nie Huaisang turned to bow in respect, he saw Lan Xichen at his uncle's side, which meant he wouldn't have to go through the torture of small talk with Lan Qiren.

"Master Lan, Lan zongzhu, please do not scold that disciple of yours," Nie Huaisang asked. "I am the one who requested to hear him sing, and of course he could hardly have denied me this."

"And how did you know that he sings in the first place?" Lan Qiren retorted, unimpressed.

Unsure how to answer without causing more problems for Lan Jingyi, Nie Huaisang elected to stay silent. He opened his fan to hide and turned his attention to Lan Xichen, as if he hadn't heard the question at all.

"Er-ge, how good to see you, it's been so long. Are you free now? Could we go have tea? I'm just freezing, I can't feel my feet at all and I'm worried about frostbite!"

Lan Xichen smiled indulgently, and glanced at his uncle.

"I'll let you deal with Jingyi, uncle, and entertain Nie zongzhu. Don't let him stay out too long. I fear it'll snow again tonight."

Lan Qiren looked unimpressed by that double plea for leniency, but nodded anyway. Only a little worried for Lan Jingyi, Nie Huaisang lost no time in following Lan Xichen away from that courtyard and toward the Hanshi.

"Will he be punished for this?" Nie Huaisang asked as they walked, a little closer to each other than necessary.

"Who?"

"That boy, Lan Jingyi. I really did ask him, you know, and I promised him he wouldn't get in trouble."

Lan Xichen chuckled softly.

"Lan Jingyi is always in trouble," he said. "We don't really know what to do with him. He has very good cultivation, uncle says he's one of the most skilled swordsmen he's ever seen, but his attitude is… a bit much to handle."

Nie Huaisang grimaced. He had found it endearing that Lan Jingyi had been nearly insolent, that he didn't whisper like most Lan disciples seemed to do, but he could imagine others would be less amused.

"It would be less of a problem if his musical cultivation were better," Lan Xichen sighed. "But he struggles with that as well. It's very odd. He has such a good ear for music, he's always humming something if left alone, but put him before a guqin and he's a disaster. He tries to please us, but it's so obvious he doesn't care for it, and so he makes no progress."

"Sounds familiar," Nie Huaisang grumbled, thinking again how radiant Lan Jingyi had been when praised, even by a complete stranger. He thought, also, of the way he'd found Cleansing soothing again, for the first time in years, and wondered. "Is it possible to cultivate through singing?"

Lan Xichen shot him a surprised look at the question, and did not answer right away. They had reached the Hanshi at last, and Lan Xichen remained silent as he opened the door, letting his guest in.

"I don't think it has ever been done," he finally answered as he closed the door behind them. "It certainly wouldn't be traditional."

"Oh, tradition," Nie Huaisang huffed, bending down to take off his boots as quickly as his cold fingers allowed. "Sometimes tradition isn't so great."

Kneeling next to him, Lan Xichen hummed noncommittally before helping Nie Huaisang remove his shoes, clearly less affected by the biting cold. Nie Huaisang couldn't decide if he was grateful or annoyed that he needed the help. He chose to ignore both feelings and leaned forward, silently begging for a kiss that was easily granted to him.

Before Nie Huaisang could get a second kiss, Lan Xichen rose to his feet and went to boil water for some tea. Nie Huaisang went to sit at the table and watched the other man work, their conversation already half forgotten for his part.

Lan Xichen, however, wasn't quite done yet.

"There might be something to your idea of voice cultivation," he said a few minutes later, while pouring the tea. Nie Huaisang blinked a few times, hurriedly trying to recall what he'd said. He was so often ignored these days, it always startled him how Lan Xichen truly paid attention to his chatter. "It would not be recommended for ordinary people, but Lan Jingyi does have a more powerful voice than most. The main reason uncle has to be so tough on him about being quiet is that Lan Jingyi has provoked headaches in others more than once. But if that could be channelled properly… and singing is music as well, isn't it? The voice is just an instrument of another sort. It could be worth trying. I'll tell uncle about it. He has a soft spot for Jingyi, I'm sure he'd be happy to find a way to help him improve."

Lan Xichen sounded so serious and earnest about it that Nie Huaisang found himself smiling. Because the world was cold and his own mind so dark, Nie Huaisang forgot sometimes how warm and kind Lan Xichen could be. At times he was annoyed by it, jealous that anyone might still carry so much gentleness. But that day, like most times he was reminded of his lover's nature, Nie Huaisang felt relieved that Lan Xichen remained untouched by darkness, and became each time more convinced that he'd been right in his choice to leave Lan Xichen unburdened by the truth.

"I'm sure Lan Jingyi will be very grateful that you are willing to help him find what works for him," Nie Huaisang said, sipping on his tea, shivering pleasantly at the heat of it.

"Not all disciples can follow the main road," Lan Xichen retorted, brushing his fingers against Nie Huaisang's cheek. "Those other paths are worth exploring as well. They can lead to great treasure, I've found."

Nie Huaisang rolled his eyes, his face suddenly very hot.

He blamed the tea for that.

[animemangasoul]

Who Are You?

Summery: A Wizard takes away Tim’s memories of his least important person. Unfortunately for Damian, that’s him.

He doesn’t remember him. Doesn’t remember the little kid with the pinched face and uncertain eyes. He looks at him and he feels... something, but it’s not enough so he doesn’t pursue it. Just gives the little guy a wide smile and asks him his name. He must be important, he thinks. If he lives with Bruce.

“Damian.” The words are spoken softly, hesitantly, but they are also firm, strong. Tim feels like if he had known him, he would have admired him for that.

Instead he smiles even wider and reaches out a hand. “Tim,” he says in return and something flashes in the kid’s eyes; the sharp gaze darting between his outstretched hand to his face and then back to his hand again. Tim frowns. Maybe they hadn’t gotten along back--

But the kid doesn’t give him a chance to retract his offer, darting forward almost in desperation as he lungs forward to sandwich Tim’s fingers between his own two hands. “Pleasure to meet you again Timothy,” he blurts out; cheeks turning beat red as he does. But Tim can only smile, because the sincerity behind the halting words are very evident.

He wonders if they’d gotten along well.

He wonders if they did, why had he forgotten him.

The least important person the wizard had said..... So why Damian?

The rest of them, his family were firmly lodged in his brain. He could remember their every laugh, their every hug, tears, smiles, love. Good, bad, ugly. He remembered it all. Bruce with his confidence and safety, Cass with her warm hug and kisses. Dick with his laughter and comfort. Jason with his honesty and wild personality. Duke with his brilliance and gentleness. Alfred with his Alfredness.  

Remembering them wasn’t hard because the memories of them have never left him. So why Damian? Why him?

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

He wonders about it for the rest of the week. Especially when he hears the kid’s last name.

The little kid who skitters around the corners. The kid who doesn’t quite know how to laugh but his eyes would still manage to give him away every single time he found something funny.  

The little Robin who must have inherited the mantle after him and carried it with dignity and respect that must have made Tim’s heart bloom with pride.

Damian Wayne.

His little brother.

His only little brother.

And yet..... He didn’t remember him.

Least important.

Why?

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

Dick finds him one morning standing in front of the family portrait. The hall is empty except for the two of them, and when Dick comes to a stop next to him, neither speaks for a long while.

Tim is busy examining the expressions on everyone’s faces. And Dick, well, Tim wasn’t quite sure what he was doing but he leaves him to it. Dick would talk when he felt like it and not a second earlier.

“If you can’t remember him, how do you remember Duke?”

The words are no louder than a whisper and Tim can feel the unease coming off of his older brother in waves, but he elects not to comment on it. Instead he shrugs and focuses his gaze on the little face of the forgotten kid standing regally next to Bruce.

“I don’t know.”

“How can you not know!”

Tim scoffs. “A wizard messed with my head Dick.”

His brother winces and Tim finds himself smiling at that. Damian and Dick were much alike. It was cute.  

“Did we get along?”

“What?”

Sighing, Tim leans forward to press a light finger against Damian’s painted face. “Did we get along? Me and Damian?” Scrutinizing the stern gaze and the almost hunched shoulders of the kid, Tim wonders what he must have been afraid of in this frozen moment. “I’ve always wanted a little brother you know.”

Dick remains quiet for an inordinate amount of time.  

His silence tells a full story, so when Dick finally musters up a casual. “Yes, but you were both just kids so you disagreed sometimes.” He hums in agreement and lets its slide.

Dick was lying to him but Tim did not elect to hold it against him.  

Pretty little lies could make even the best of men tempted in telling them and whatever dynamic he and Damian currently held most be infinitely better for Dick than their previous shared history.

Still, ‘strike one Dick,’ he thinks as he turns around to make his way down to the kitchen, he was hungry after all. ‘Lying doesn’t suit you big brother.’

“Wait.”

Foot frozen midair, Tim drags his eyes up from the stairs and back to the silent figure by the portrait. Dick looks so very still.

“Yeah?”

One hand coming up to run through his hair, his older brother gives him a sheepish smile; eyes gleaming suspiciously but smile as sincere as ever.

“You got along better at the end. Damian he.... you guys weren’t.... you didn’t like each other in the beginning,” Dick pauses and there is pain there, in those words. Bitter pain. Protective, angry.  

Something most have been stolen from him too Tim supposes. And it hurts more because Dick remembers. Whatever built relationship he and Damian had most have meant more to Dick than he was letting on.

Interesting.

“Thank you for telling me.” He leaves at that. Not without a second glance or thought.

Dick doesn’t follow him. Tim thinks that’s for the best.

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

“You hated him?”

Tim blinks in surprise. “Really?”

Kon nods. Eyes on the bright screen and tongue sticking out in concentration. “Yup.”

“Why?”

Kon curses loudly; leaning back and dragging the controller with him to avoid the upcoming wall. “I don’t know man,” he grits out. “You never got along and Dick used to pit you guys against each other or something. Choosing sides and shit.”

“Why?”

Shrugging, his best friend elects not to answer the question. “Beats me.”

Frowning in confusion, Tim nods slowly. “That’s super weird right? I mean, Dick wouldn’t do something like that. That’s not who he is. Or at least who I remember him to be.”

Kon shrugs again. “Never liked the guy so don’t ask me dude.”

Tim thinks about it for a second but then he too picks up his controller and Kon restarts the game. It really didn’t matter in the end, did it?

So what if he’d hated Damian in the beginning for some weird reason. The kid seemed pleasant enough last time he saw him so maybe he’d changed. Jason had managed it after all and well, Tim had frequently encountered and even befriended less than decent people before. So a little kid like Damian couldn’t be quite that bad right?

Maybe he needed to have a sit down and actually talk to him.

Talking to everyone else about how he was supposed to feel about Damian wasn’t really working after all. They most have had some form of relationship if the kid looked hurt when he didn’t remember him. It couldn’t have been all antagonistic, their relationship. And it couldn’t have been all that great either.

Maybe they’d reached a sort of an in between.  

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

Finding the time to talk to Damian proves to be difficult. Not only is work literally drowning him in stress and gives him less free time than a man working three jobs but turns out Damian was avoiding him.

It becomes all too obvious when he turns a corner one day and is met with the startled gaze of the kid who then; unable to avoid him any other way, actually turns around abruptly and sprints away.  

Tim is left standing there with an outreached hand and a mouth open for a yell that never leaves his lips.

After that, it becomes more and more difficult to pin the kid down. No matter what he does; waking up early, coming home an hour before his time, choosing to patrol with batman instead of alone, he can’t seem to get the kid to talk to him.

Somehow, that hurts.

Not in the normal sense of faint disappointment. Not in the way of feeling sad because a stranger elected to be rude to you, no. It was this gut punching pain that just wouldn’t go away.  

He didn’t even know him, but it hurt. It really really hurt and Tim didn’t like that one bit.  

Damian Wayne.

He needs to talk to him. Nothing was going to fix this otherwise. Even if he doesn’t remember him, he.....

“He’s hiding at my apartment ya know. That’s why you can’t find him.”

Tim practically jumps out of his skin. “What the hell Jay!”

His older brother grins. A savage sort of smile pulling at the corner of his lips as he barely seems to refrain from outright laughing at him.  

“I hate you.”

“No you don’t,” Jason snorts. “And if you wanna catch the little brat you better go now.” And with that he disappears behind the roofline, leaving Tim to glare after him.  

“Jerk.”

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

“Found you!”

This time it’s Damian’s turn to jump out of his skin and well, Tim would definitely be lying if he said he didn’t see why Jason loved doing it so much.

“What.... why are you here Drake?”

Landing soundlessly on the floor, Tim shuts the window behind him before shuffling over to where Damian is sitting, careful not to trigger another run. “I just want to talk.”

The little guy glares at him. A proper glare with death threats and all. Tim is mildly amused. “Won’t you give me five minutes? Please?”

Damian flinches. “I do not wish to speak with you Drake.” He sounds young and scared and..... Tim doesn’t quite understand how he could have ever hated this kid.

“I don’t remember you,” he says slowly, the words leaving his mouth easily enough, but somewhere deep down, at the very bottom of his soul he finds himself retching at the casualness with which he says them.

It doesn’t help that the kid can’t quite hide the brief flair of hurt that dances through his eyes.

Fuck.

“I already know that Drake,” he snaps, but Tim steps forward, waving his arms frantically. “I didn’t mean it like that ki—Damian!” Swallowing thickly, he tries to take a deep breath. “Look, I just..... I don’t remember you that’s true. But,” he carries on quickly preventing Damian from cutting him off. “I would like to remember you again and just...” here he gives a helpless shrug. “Wanna help me find the wizard who did this and make him change me back?”

Clearly that’s not what Damian had been expecting him to say, for his supposed little brother is standing on the other side of Jason’s living room, silently gaping at him.

Tim bites down on his tongue to stop himself from saying anything stupid that’ll ruin things. And then--

“Why?” Damian’s voice is angry and suspicious, but it’s also pained and confused and.... Tim just wants to hug him. No kid should ever look that forlorn, ever.

“I want my memories back and I want to remember you,” he answers instead, giving the kid his most winning smile.

“Why?”

Sighing, Tim drops the smile and gives the kid an almost helpless look, because..... what do you say to that? How can he possible explain the disparity between what he’s feeling and what he knows. That his mind might not recall the little kid in front of him, who looks so much like Bruce, but his heart does.  

How can he just....

“I think you’re worth remembering,” he settles for in the end. “You might not have been part of my most important memories, but you were still important to me and that’s why the spell worked.” This time when he tries to smile, it comes out rather sad, a bit empty, slightly heartbroken. “We were getting there, weren’t we? Becoming brothers?”

Damian looks away and that tells him everything.

“Let me remember you.” Tim says, an almost plea breaking through his faked bravado.

This time when Damian looks back at him, it’s not fear or hurt or pain he sees, but a quiet sense of determination. It’s shaky and still uncertain, but it eases something within Tim. “So what do you say?” He asks again just to make sure.

The kid nods. “Very well Drake. You have yourself a deal.”

Tim grins and Damian, well Damian smiles just the tiniest bit and for the first time in days, Tim feels as if something broken in his heart has finally been put back together again.

It’ll work out in the end. Tim wouldn’t let it end any other way.

The End

@punjabj-ninja @throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen @river9noble

Anyone else who wants to be tagged please let me know. Or untagged either way :)

[greekbros]

"greek-Bros: The Return of an Old Enemy"

Chapter 9: The 'War' Room

It was approximately high noon, the Dionysian Games were at their peak, all was well for the residents of Delphi except for one. Dionysus was in his competitors tent near the game field, explaining to Hermes the whole situation. Dionysus had agreed to a challenge that had now put Delphi and Ariadne in a compromising situation, if Ares won the joust he would take everything from the land to sleeping with his beloved wife.

Dionysus was laying on a pile of pillows, deeply remorseful of his string of terrible decisions. "I can't believe I would put Ariadne in this situation I really am like dad!", he sobbed, "WHY the fuck did I even agree to this?!", he continued while crying into his pillow. Hermes sat next to him, patting his back trying to comfort him. He couldn't care too much about how it all happened but he had an idea on how he was going to help.

Hermes laid down on the pillows and let out a relaxed sigh, he already had the plan all mapped out. "Dionysus, you know very well even if Ares does win...I'm not letting him screw you and Ariadne. By the way....is he using his OWN horses for this?", he asked. Ares's chariot was pulled by a trio of horses that would be best described as literal Night Mares, these mystical fire breathing war horses are fast, aggressive and can pull a lot more than Ares's weight.

Dionysus turned, sniffling, "....I'm not sure why?", now he was curious as to what Hermes was planning, "why? What are you going to do?". He was desperate to find some way of winning. It would be devastating if Ariadne found out she was going to be a prize for Ares and lose her kingdom let alone have her husband lose a challenge he decided to enter.

Hermes gave a smirk, inspite of current events he always knew how to make time for anything. "Well, I remember correctly....his horses are pretty tough....if he is using his horses, I could let them out....replace them with some of the horses from here.....I mean...how does wine effect horses.... especially ones that....breath fire?", he asked with a sly grin. He leaped up, pacing back and forth. "We could.....get him drunk, throw him off his game...or...we can go a little more further.", he turned to Dionysus for some approval.

Dionysus was catching on with Hermes's plan. He stood up, "...yeah.....I see where you're going with this....yeah.....but how are we going to get the horses to drink the wine? I mean....you can't just lead a horse to water....also....what if an animal that BREATHES fire....wine is flammable you know...". The two were brainstorming, thinking of ways Ares could be sabotaged. Their brain power would get a boost in the form of someone outside. The two heard the familiar but eloquently frustrated voice of Apollo, demanding to see Dionysus. Dionysus rushes to the tent entrance and opens to see Apollo, talking to one of the satyrs guarding the tent. "Hey man how's it hanging?", Dionysus chimed.

Apollo turned around and the look on his face spoke a thousands that all could translate to "What the HELL did I tell you?!". He marched towards Dionysus, pushes him gently back into the tent to yell at him. "WHY IS THERE AN EVENT GOING ON?!?", he shouted, "I thought I told you to hold off on any parties or anything to make sure the people are safe from what's been going on!". He almost couldn't believe that Dionysus would go the point of risking the Delphians for the sake of having fun.

Dionysus slunked into himself like a turtle going into his shell. "W-well Apollo ol'pal...ugh....wow you are NOT going to believe what else....ugh...Ares is here too....aaaaaand I'm in trouble.....more specifically.... Ariadne is in trouble.", he tried to soften the news but even he knew it wasn't going to quell Apollo's mild fury.

Hermes stepped into help in his own way, "Yeah Dionysus bet his wife, Delphi itself and his patronship of Delphi to Ares if he lost.", successfully making the situation far worse. Apollo's usually fare glowingly pale face was slowly glowing a burning fiery orange with anger, it became hotter in the tent, melting any wax candles and drying any leaves from fruits inside. "Come on Apollo, are you really going to get mad inside of this highly flammable tent with your two favorite brothers in mine?", Hermes charmed Apollo. The hot glow dimmed back into the cooler pale tone he usually had, he knew no matter how angry he got it would be pointless to lose his temper.

Apollo took a deep sigh, sat down to further collect himself. ".....ok...now...what do you plan on doing then?", he asked. He could see both Dionysus and Hermes had a plan, and he knew he wasn't going to like it. "Oh good....it seems you both have something cooked up.", he begrudgingly assumed.

The two stood there looking at Apollo, Hermes walked to a table that had a bottle of wine. "Let's just say, Ares isn't going to drive his chariot straight if his HORSES have been drinking....oh..ugh....DID you see his horses?", he asked. Apollo nodded 'yes', so unfortunately, the plan of forcing Ares's horses to drink the wine would pose a challenge. "Ok, so....we will have to feed the horses something else....spiked fruit?", he suggested. The two looked at Hermes, both couldn't argue against the idea yet they found it to be a usable one.

Dionysus chimed in, "yeah I think I have some marinated apples somewhere. We could feed it to his horses if they don't drink the wine.", he left the tent to look for some at a food tent nearby, leaving the two brothers alone.

Apollo knew that Hermes wasn't here just to enjoy watching Dionysus's fake Olympic games, he had been watching what had been going on in Greece. "Hermes, now that we're alone. What have you seen as of late? Is what I've heard from Artemis true?", Apollo was referring to the wolf man that Hermes and Artemis had encountered. He had recently come in contact with Artemis, whom had come to him to ask about Zeus's whereabouts.

His mischievous demeanor calmed into a somber awareness. Hermes took a deep sigh, he got distracted with Dionysus's issue. He turned to Apollo, "yeah, it was pretty freaky...the thing didn't die on the first shot either. I haven't seen them appear during the day though. I think these creatures only come out of night.", he took off hat hat and scratched his head. "Dionysus was getting a lot of complaints....guess people here can't stand still for long....I can see why he caved in, he doesn't want to disappoint anyone....I can relate, buuuuut honestly the whole situation feels weird.". Hermes felt mildly uncomfortable about his encounter, he had been so use to seeing things die and stay dead, that it had never occurred to him that something could reanimate.

Apollo's stern face loosened up, "Well.....he always seems to listen to his mortal citizens more than me so I'm not sure why I always act surprised.", he relaxed a little but noticed Hermes a little bit worried, "Are you ok? Artemis did mention you didn't take too well to the.... creature.". He could see Hermes look like a someone who saw something he shouldn't.

"it's ok", Hermes replied, "....I just prefer dead things to be dead....that's all.". He turned to the shuffling tent wall and sees Dionysus come in with a jar of fruit pickled in wine. "Ah perfect Dio, I'll take the fruit and wine. Wait here and I'll handle the rest.", Hermes took the jar and an amphora of wine and jetted off, leaving Dionysus and Apollo in the tent.

Dionysus turned to Apollo, "sooooo........ugh....hehe, have you seen the games? Man the folks out there are having fun.", he tried to make it as if he wasn't caring about his dilemma but there was no point, "man I fucked up big time..... fucking Ares, the asshole.... should have asked for someone who wouldn't want to fuck Ariadne.....man I'm a terrible husband.", he slumped on to a pile of pillows. He was still worried about the joust, he was worried about losing Ariadne's trust in him, and above all he was worried if he resembled Zeus in the worst way possible. Dionysus let out a deep sigh, "guess I really am my dad's kid..."

Apollo could hear the hurt in Dionysus's voice, he got closer to him and placed his hand on his back. "Look, you messed up even for your standards.....but you're not a terrible husband, you two are young newlyweds, you've been married for a short amount time and mistakes happen.... don't be THAT hard on yourself. There's still time to fix things....does she know about the bet?", asked Apollo.

"No...she doesn't....and I don't want her to know about ANY of it. If I lose, I lose everything that's important to me....if I win...well...I have yet to see Ares be a good sport about losing....for all I know he'll tell her out of spite", Dionysus replied.

"Oh come now, Ares is a difficult person for sure and he's unbarable at times....but I doubt he will be that level of cruelty. Maybe he was just exaggerating...after all the man is the father of Fear and Terror himself, he would know a thing or two about making people fear him." Apollo reassured him. "Plus, I have no doubt Ariadne would forgive you. You've done quite a lot for her if you remember, she knows you love her and you'd end the world for her.", Apollo hoped his words would at least inspire Dionysus not to consider himself a failure of a husband. After all, he along with Hades, have seemed to have rather successful marriages and to compare one's marriage to Zeus's marriage is surly a blow to one's heart and soul let alone their ego.

Dionysus looked at Apollo and smiled, "....thanks....but I just don't want to mess up anyway.", he got up and took a quick peek outside to see how far into the games the people had gotten through. Unfortunately time wouldn't be on their side, it had seems the Delphians had gone through the whole games and have already started giving out makeshift medals. "GAH! THE GAMES ARE ALMOST DONE!", he loudly panicked, he ran towards the set of armor that he set aside so he can put on for the joust, "OH GODS IM FUCKED! Hermes better be done with what he was doing!", he quickly put on his armor.

"I'll go and distract Ares then, see if I can change his mind about the bet, good luck out there Dionysus.", Apollo quickly left Dionysus in the tent.

"Bye see you later.", Dionysus responded.

Elsewhere, Hermes was at a temporary stable where the horses for the joust. Hermes snuck into the stables in hopes no one noticed him. He looked around and could see Ares's three huge, scary looking chariot horses, he slowly tiptoed to them. The horses noticed his presence, these weren't friendly horses, these horses might as well have been the horses of straight from King Augeas's stable. Hermes took a bowl and pored the wine into it, he raised it to the opening of the stable up to the three horses. In a whispered voice, "...hey there buddies, you want something to take the edge off? Come on, it should smell irresistible.", Hermes was hoping the sweet smelling wine would attract their attention, one of the horses did I fact take a sip from the bowl. It drank the whole thing in a few sips, letting out a loud delighted whinny.

"Hehe, perfect.", Hermes poured another bowl to see if he could give more wine, the same horse drank the wine while the second horse became curious and took a few sips as well. Now all was left was to get the third horse hooked on the wine, but the third horse was different, this one was a stubborn mare that lead the trio while they pull the chariot. She wasn't going to fall for the wine as easily. Hermes took a quick peak at the mare, "c'moooooon, what gives?", he could see she was all the way in the corner, glaring at him while her brothers fought to take the last few sips. As Hermes poured the last of wine into the bowl, he went to take out a wine soaked pealed apple from the jar. He gently tossed to the mare, the other two horses could smell the wine on the apple and tried to go right for it, but the mare reared her head, snorting aggressively. The two other horses stopped, the mare sniffed the apple and took a small nibble.

It took a few seconds for the mare to understand why this apple was spicy, however, she seemed to have liked the spiked fruit and ate it in one bite. She clopped towards Hermes, intimidating him for more apples, he quickly obliged and held the jar to the mare. She shoved her muzzle into the jar, eating a few more bits of alcoholic fruit. Hermes wasn't satisfied yet, he left the jar with the mare and he quickly ran to get two more amphoras of wine. He quickly began to pore more wine for all three horses, the more the three sipped, the relaxed and tipsy they acted. The three swayed back and forth, bumping into each other, loudly snorting and whinnying.

Plan A, was a success. Hermes patted the three horses snouts, knowing damn well he would never have a chance to do this with Ares's horses ever again. "Ok, bye bye.", he darted off to see what Ares was doing, unfortunately, he was more focused than ever, he was now for some reason practicing using his sword on an innocent tree as if he was going to fight Dionysus to the death. "What the fuck is he doing, he isn't going to kill dionysus is he?", Hermes questioned to himself. He suddenly saw Apollo call out to Ares, wanting to have a conversation with him. "Ah oh, this is going to be good....or really bad.", Hermes hoped Apollo was going to help.

End of chpr 9

[popculturebuffet]

Ducktales Reviews: The Town Where Everyone Was Nice! or Scrooge Is the Lindburgh Baby

Saludos Amigos! The Ride of the Three Cablleros has at long last come to the last stop before it’s final phase. It’s been a hell of a ride so far: Our boys have tried to woo some ladies, performed some black magic, had some sort of drug trip, dealt with Donald’s ego, helped goofy ungoofy himself...

“SEASONS CHANGE, TIMES CHANGE BUT UNGOOFY IS FOREVER AND ALWAYS HE IS ALWAYS THERE” ... I created this magificent stalion.. kinda I think he came out of a styigan hole in the universe from the darkest dark in the dark of the dark... I can’t be sure. Our heroes fought an arrogant prince, found a lost city and helped donald get his smile back. All culminating in our heroes going to Spain for some reason, soundtracking Goofy’s win against Horace in Flamico Dancing, somehow that wasn’t a Covid induced fever dream I had but the actual premise of the episode, and then played some soccer with Daisy’s cousin and Pancho Pete. All in all we’ve had some good times getting here and I feel acomplished having made it this far. While I’ve still got quite a ways to go, getting this far means I really made something.. and not just the 80 something dollars it took to comission all of this. And I genuinely just want to thank all of you for reading these as these have easily been some of my most popular reviews and @weirdkev27​ for comissioning all of this. It’s been easily one of my faviorite projects so far and I look forward to the final leg of it soon. For now though we have one last adventure before the biggest one starts.  But before we can dive into it you probably have a few questions, and since I don’t really need to give Ducktales 2017 a lavish introduction as unlike most stuff so far this show is well and familiar: it’s what got me started reviewing animation on this blog, it’s what got me into the duck community as a full member, and it’s what caught Kev’s attention leading to this entire series. So I have time to answer the questions your probably asking and if your not.. well here’s the answers anyway Wait aren’t you going to cover Louie’s Eleven?: Nope. While I love that episode, I already did a full review of it earlier this year.  I saw no reason to completely and utterly redo the entire thing when my opinions toward the episode haven’t really changed. That being said since I didn’t touch on the boys characterizations in that one too much and since I do want this retrospective to be comprehensive, I will talk about Panchito And Jose’s characterization there briefly during this review at the right time as a compromise. 

Wait why isn’t THIS the last stop since it came out AFTER Legend of the Three Cablleros: Simple.. it felt unsatsfying to both me and kev to end on this one. While their apperance here IS a good one and a big deal... it’s also ANOTHER guest apperance. It’s something I didn’t quite realize for now but outside of the movie.. every apperance after is them guest starring in another series. Their aperances in Don Rosa’s Duck Comics, while awesome and treating them with proper respect, were still them showing up to shake up Donald’s stories and formulas. They were LITERAL guest stars in House of Mouse, and Roadster Racers was entirely just “let’s shove them in there because we can”. Legend.. is their story. Their moment in the sun after too damn long with all three as main characters and while being a lead is normal for donald, Jose and Panchito really HAVEN’T had that shot outside of their home countries. To be the hero of their own fully realized epic adventure. So it just fits best to have the road lead there instead of have all that happen.. then go back to yet another guest appearance. The other major factor.. is that while Legend came out around the same time as ducktales, to the point many compared and contrast both shows treatment of Donald, this episode is what most non-latin american audiences saw first as it took Disney WAY too damn long to air the series over here.. i.e. until Disney Plus launched, finding it somewhere online was the only option despite the series being produced in america with some really big american names voice acting wise. Point is this came first to some people, so i’m using that as a flimsy excuse to put it ahead so we get a better finale. 

Now all that’s settled, let’s dive into “The Town Where Everyone Was Nice!” and see what one of the best duck propeties period makes of our boys. 

We open in a remote town in Brazil. It’s the Festival of the Flower.. which is a bit off to me. While it DOES kind of make plot sense.. the problem is the lure was written to Panchito and Jose.. Jose whose a brazil native and could’ve possibly been supscious that a tourist invintation wasn’t in Brazilian Portugese, the countries national language and something I specifically researched just to see what it’d be called. For the record it’d be O Festival da Flor acording to google translate, which still sounds neat, Webby could’ve still said it means festival of the flower. It just feels like a missed opportunity from a creative team that’s taken such pains to make the series feel as authentic as possible and clearly put a lot of hard work and research into making each location feel like it’s real world counterpart.  But it’s a minor thing and we soon get our two plots for the episode: Our B Plot.. is that Dewey can’t stay the fuck off his phone and is taking pictures rather than actually getting experiences with Louie enabling him, while Webby gets increasingly frustrated at Dewey not actually botherting to experince this unique and obscure culture. We’ll get back to this in a bit. 

Our main plot naturally concerns the reason our heroes are here: Donald is reuniting with The Cabs, who in this continuity are his old College friends who Scrooge hates due to having to listen to them practice constnatly and tells the kids they’d hate it worse than his playing the bagpipes. 

Bagpipes are objectively the worst insterument on earth. They are loud, unharmonic and generally just obnoxious. I do respect how important they are to Scotland, home of David Tennant, Grant Morrision and .. Alan Cumming and James Macavoy? Wait what? that’s awesome! Point is Scotland is great but I do not like the bagpipes except when Bugs Bunnny is murdering them. Honestly Donald’s college band was probably more like this. Nothing bad at all just mildly pathetic and mildly pathetic is what got Donald a girlfriend, so it’s not a  bad look

That brings me to another point: Scrooge is pretty obnoxious in this episode. It seems like his sole reason for coming was to bitch about Donald’s old college band. He could’ve just sent them a stern letter like the pros at being a cranky old geezer do. 

I do GET why he’s here as there are some REALLY damn funny bits with him in the a-plot, it just feels like they could’ve justified it better. But on to better things as Jose and Panchito enter the scene after Scrooge claims they “weren’t so cool”.. with Panchito diving from a plane and drifting down on his umbrella

And Panchito shows up dramatically playing the guitar. A truly awesome and worthy intro to our boys. So let’s talk about them in this series. Honestly the two really aren’t that diffrent from usual, though Jose’s lady chasing is given to Panchito, his footloose world traveling lifestyle remains in tact as does his genuine charm while Panchito remains the peppy one, just with his outbursts gone as his guns are replaced with cell phones.. 

Yeah while I do get replacing the pistols because let’s face it the mexican of the group being a gun nut was pretty damn unfortunate, though Don Rosa toned it down and justifed it well, and frankly guns are a hard no for family shows these days unless their laser guns so replacing them I get. But instead of I dunno giving him knives or turning his holsters into pouches carrying his stuff.. he just has two Cell Phones. It’s weird. It dosen’t really make sense other than for him putting on a big shot act and even big stars probably don’t have two phones on them at all times. It’s just a VERY weird update that makes not a whole lot of logical sense and I belivie is thankfully gone by the next ep. The only real issue I have is the two just sorta blend together personality wise instead of being distinct like usual, but that’s also happened in other apperances, so it’s not exactly a new or unique problem, and the two’s voice actors do a great job making both feel like they should. 

Speaking of which let’s just go ahead and discuss that elephant in the room: The Cabs were recast for the first time in ages, which didn’t sit well with friends of legend as Eric Bauza, who’d replaced rob Paulsen, was himself replaced by Arturo Del Puerto and Bernado Del Paulo replaced Jamie Camil and Carlos Aquazi as Panchito. And I have mixed opinons on this one: Replacing Eric was a no brainer: while he’s a terrific voice actor.. he’s not brazilian and the crew of Ducktales 2017 perfer to cast actors who match their characters backgrounds, which again adds to the authenicty of it’s globetrotting and scope. They don’t ALWAYS, Cree Summer isn’t, as far as I know, Egyptian and Catherine Tate, while wonderful, isn’t italian. But for the most part it adds a nice flavor to things and frankly I personally prefer it when Jose is voiced by an actual brazilian man. So that change i’m fine with. Not using Camil though... I do not get. Jamie Camil is a throughly talented voice actor, having done TONS of great work lately , vocing Globgor for star vs and not getting nearly enough screen time as the loveable demon dad, and stealing the show as Don Carnage earlier in the series. While that episode is one of the series weakest, he’s still easily the best part of it and I hope Carnage shows up one last time before the finale. 

So it really makes.. no sense to me to replace him. Not only is camil a bigger named actor, but he was already on the show and even the defense of “well they don’t want actors playing multiple rolls” ended up utterly destroyed by the end of the season, as Christ Dimatopolus not only reprised Storkules, but went on to play Drake and Melon, and picked up a FOURTH role in season 3 as Hades. My point is the show has no real issue with doubling up on voice rolls, so I scratch my head as to why Camil wasn’t given this part too despite being the obvious choice. Del Paulo isn’t a bad actor and is great in the role.. I just scratch my head why he was needed when a perfect actor for the part was right there and already had experince with the character. 

I do think Puerto and Paulo are terrific and do the characters justice, issues with Paulo being there at all aside, and they do a great job and more than earned the roles and I don’t think the mass critcisim of this version of the characters is entirely warranted.. for this episode. This episode while they can meld into each other... that happens in most of their apperances anyway, so it’s not unusual or unique to this series. I will say however that the way their written in their next apperance is utter garbage: they aren’t really given any chances to be distinct, are basically written as one person even worse .. and that one person is a greedy asshole who takes advantage of their friend and never apologizes. I do get why people did not like them in that episode. I do think it has no baring on this one and people should stop bashing these versions as a whole for one terrible episode, especially when Louie has been written pretty badly for the bulk of season 3, yet is still not a bad character. It’s unfair to paint the series as painting them soley as selfish jackasses when it didn’t at first and hopefully wont’ again when they presumibly show up for the finale’s big avengers endgame sequence I hope is coming. For now they aren’t bad and the colors are crisp and the animation nice and bouncy on our boys. 

Since we have two plots here, I’m just going to go ahead and split em since honestly, the b plot dosen’t really impact the a-plot until really the last minute and is basically happening right along side it and in concert with it. Sooooo... 

The Trite B-Plot: As you can probably gather I didn’t really like this one. It’s basically 5-7 minutes of me wanting to punch a child in the face. Or rather Webby wanting to have fun experinces and actually take in the culture while in town, while Dewey just wants to take pictures of everything, make it seem like he did stuff, and generally is obnoxious to webby while Louie supports him wholeheartdly. That last part is really one of the few good parts of the plot as it’s nice for one of the brothers plots to NOT be about them being in conflict or squabbling but just hanging out and having some fun, doubly so since i’ve had to spend a season watching Louie , outside of a few good exceptions be an absolute dick to Huey and also Dewey once. It’s nice to just see him and Dewey bond over a shared intrest: posting shit online and getting good photos. 

And it’s not without GOOD gags: Dewey’s obnoxious captions at one point while Webby continually looses her shit, Louie continually saying “that’s so wise” at Dewey’s bullshit philosphies, Webby’s continued annoyance is delivered great by Kate as always, and the best bit is Webby, utterly pissed at Dewey for refusing to eat Local Cuisine, wolfing down the entire fucking plate, all the dumplings in her mouth at once while Dewey, naturally, takes a picture. Otherwise this is just.. grating. It’s utterly grating to watch Webby GENUINELY try hard to absorb the local culture and really enjoy a once in a life time experince.. while Dewey jackasses about and basically acts like she’s wrong for it and treats his best friend like garbage. Just because i’ts nice it’s not Louie this time doesen’t make one of the kids being a dick without any nuance or character stuff suddenly great. It’s just tiresome. 

And SOMEHOW , despite already not liking it the first time watching the episode.. it’s even WORSE now afterlast years. No not because I watched it while having to put up with Coronoavirus induced Chills, but because another show did this plot 100 times better: Close Enough. One of the best new shows of the year, Close Enough had a plot where exes Bridget and Alex, aka yet aother great set of Kimiko Glenn and Jason Mantzokus characters, went on vacation together, but their attempts to have some ex sex fell flat due to longstanding issues we found about through this plot: Bridget has a bad habit of doing what Dewey did, focusing way more on her social than actually enjoying her vacatoin while Alex has a bad habit of befreinding random weirdos who agree with his worldview. Keep in mind this is the same worldview that spent an afternoon connecting garfield to jesus while pissing in a jug for some reason. Point instead of a character just being a smug dick, it ties into actual character flaws that helped us not only learn more about them but lead to a really heartwarming scene where the two admit they jsut can’t sleep together casually with allt heir baggage, and that they still have a lot to sort out. Before given the show their on having their friends show up from the a plot and all of them getting kidnapped by a robot because Josh skipped a bunch of ads and a 5 year old has to solve some issues and prove she’s not dumb to blow up said robot. What i’m saying is it’s even more insufferable watching this after seeing it done a thousand times better, and fucking watch Close Enough. Thankfully unlike Inifnity Train it’s not reliant on you to get a second season as it’s been renewed proving that even in a cluster fuck like 2020 miracles can happen, but it’d still be nice for it to get more fans during the presumably long wait for Season 2. Let’s move past this, i’ll get to the plot relevant bit for the climax when we get to the climax, and onto the reason your all here. 

The Main Event: A Life Not Wasted

Okay onto the actual plot. Rewinding quite a bit, the boys meet our boys, and we get some good bits. The boys cool new handshake leaves Huey wanting one only for Louie to simply lick his hand. See this is Louie dickery I can get behind because what did Huey expect? I do take comfort in the fact he has actual friends now who will likely do a handshake, fenton very much included. I’m sure Gyro didn’t want one either so he’s had plenty of time to workshop. We also find out one of the boys was dropped as an egg and well.. given Dewey opens and closes his eyes one at a time for this one moment, the ohter triplets just sorta.. silently agre it’s Dewey. IT does explain why he thought Champ Popular would get over..that and Santa Claus is Going to Highschool being his favorite movie. 

So both Jose and Panchito claim to be sucessful: Jose being a sucessful jetsetter and trendsetter, and Panchito being a world famous pop star, never stop stopping. So Donald being donald panics and runs into a alley where Scrooge and Huey join him.  Donald is fully convinced he’s wasted his life and has nothing to show for it. Huey rightfully points out he raised three wonderful children and isn’t that enough? Naturally given Donald clearly has some issues related to this subject and Scrooge has develoved into old man yells at cloud, he agrees it’s not important as money. So Huey decides to help his uncle because he’s the good son.. and because the two are easily the most alike out of Donald and his Kids. It’s something I haven’t really been able to bring up before so I was delighted to realize i could now: Besides the obvious people bring up constnatly, I.e. Huey having inhereted the most of the family rage out of his brothers, there’s the fact both are kind of obessive, both tend ot spiral into panic when a situation goes wrong, both are awkward with women, both are frequently ignored or taken for granted by those around them, and both are awkward adorable dorks who I will give my life to protect. It’s why I think Huey has the best relationship with his uncle of the bunch: He’s the only one who at least TRIES to empahtize with him and support him. While the other two do love him, and Webby of course likely has an insanne and horrifying shrine of him, and scrooge and probably della now in her closet.. and of course lena but that’s less out of hero worship and more out of her insane, over the top, very webby version of love. Point is, he’s the one who genuinely sees his uncle as a person who needs help and love. This was best demonstrated in the scene at the bank back in “Who Is Gizmoduck” as Huey tries to get his uncle a loan using the guidebook and is there soley to help the guy and taking time out of his day to visit the bank. Let’s face it though this is huey: he probably loves visiting the bank. They just got new pens! So Huey decides to put his improv badge to good use... so far the only use he’s gotten is Louie laughing at the fact he actually earned an improv badge and urges donald to simply ACT like he’s sucessful. Scrooge balks at this, because as Wonder Woman 1984 taught us nothing good comes from lies.. or from  banging your ghost boyfriend while he’s possessing someone’s body without said body’s consent and plan to fully live out the rest of your lives togehter without ever considering how fucked up this is. I will..deal with that movie ... soon. But he soon changes his turn and agrees to go along with it to avoid Jose getting upset and them having to pay for everything. 

So Huey suggest Donald keep the lie small, but belivable. Given the law of sitcoms when it comes to anyone saying that and the fact this is Donald, he instead panics and lies that he’s taken over McDuck industries and scrooge has gone full abe simpson in the other direction. 

Which is why i’m not enitrely annoyed by Scrooge’s presence: while they don’t even handwave him being here, Scrooge putting on an old man act, and sometimes getting back at donald for it is solid gold the whole damn time and some of David Tennat’s best comedic acting on the show, so it makes up for him being a grumpus.  And while i’m not usually not a fan of liar revealed plots, this one works for me.. mostly because it’s rooted in character. Here Donald is lying.. but because of deep seated neurosis he’s yet to fully tackle. While he loves his boys and is proud of htem every day... it’s very clear Donald hates his life and how it turned out. We got bits of this back in House of the Lucky Gander, with Donald’s first thought upon thinking he’s about to die is “I wasted my life” and feeling entirely like a looser. This episode brillinatly builds on that: it shows a Donald who simply feels.. he acomplished nothing. It’s easy to see why as his parents were happy and sucessful at whatever they did from the looks of it and how well taken care of the kids were, his uncle is the richest duck in the world and it’s greatest hero and explorer, his sister is the only one who could rival that record, and his cousin constnatly gets riches and fame handed to him. Donald.. by comparison.. is just a normal guy whose house is in his rich uncle’s pool, who has no job, no partner, and only really the love of his family. He spent his life on adventures he didn’t want to have living int he shadow of someone he grew to resent before the Spear of Selene incident blew things up for a decade. And then when he was free instead of becoming a big sucess... he blew the rest of it being overprotective of his boys and bouncing from dead end job to dead end job. It’s easy to see why he sees himself as a failure despite having lived a good life: compared to everyone else, even his sister who mooned herself, in his life.. he feelsd far behind. And as someone whose felt they were far behind countless times and only now is realizing they haven’t and it’s a marathoon ot a sprint I naturally relate. So his wanting to play big shot for just ONE day, to be the big hero like scrooge, teo be a sucess for five minutes with his best friends.. it’s understandable and relatable. 

So Donald continues the ruse, leading to a great bit where the cabs all try to avoid picking up the check “WE can’t all keep whistling nonchalantly” before Scrooge is forced to give Donald the money to in the best joke of the episode.. and I mean FORCED. He and donald get into a fight with their hands under the table and Huey eventually gets fed up with that and has to BITE his uncle’s hand just to get him to do what he shoudl’ve done ruse or no given he’s the richest person there. The reason I take special offense to this.. is that my fairly wealthy grandpa and grandma, my mom’s dad and his wife for the record, would buy us dinner EVERY TIME they were near town, a nice steak dinner with whatever we wanted to most of the time. They knew we couldn’t afford such luxury half the time and wanted to treat us and spend time with us. Since my grandpa’s passing, my Grandma and her New Husband have continued the tradition since then, if obviously not this year for damn obvious reasons, thought hey sent us a really nice dinner to cook for christmas in the same spirit. What i’m saying is when you know your relatives arne’t as stacked as you , you pay for the fucking meal especially since i’ts a special occasion, and even for someone as stingy as scrooge, it comes off as a dick move. 

We then get the best scene with the episode, just inching out the climax as the three simply talk, remince on old times, have a good rib like old friends would. It feels natural and wonderful to watch and gets even better when the three hear the radio and end up having an impromptu dance and musical number. Also Jose’s umbrella is also a flute somehow. 

Point is the boys have a good time and Donald gets carried away, with the boys planning a world tour. Huey, while happy to endulge his uncle in a badly needded ego boost, isn’t happy to endulge this and scrooge is unwilling ot pay, more resonably this time. Huey eventually talks him out of being a moron and tells him he has to tell the honest truth and while that dosen’t work this does. 

So as Donald goes to face the music, we have come to our climax. Phrasing. 

The Finale: Ay Carumba

So we come to our finale. Backing up a scene or too to the B-Plot, webby is interviewing a local about the festival when she gets stuck in a loop. So far in the episode we’ve had hints something is up with the people as they go all yellow eyed.. and webby finds out why as she notices the “person” she was interviewing is, in a hilarious and disturbing review.. a horrignly realistic hand puppet.. and upon stealing Louie’s phone, she points out there’s no shots of anyone’s feet.. and the reason why is that the giant flower the feast is about is a mean green mother from outer space and he’s bad. And Webby finding that out’s got him fighting mad.  Webby and the boys naturally run to warn the remaning boy and scrooge and they all run out only to get blocked out of town and captured. Dewey looses his phone inside the plant monster.

In a great joke, Scrooge ended up actually throwing his back out with the old man act, so our heroes are all captured and it’s up to our stars to save the day.  So while his family is in peril, Donald finally comes clean with Jose and Panchito naturally being upset.. for a second before Jose admits he lied to and an irate panchito.. is forced to admit he also lied. Jose is a flight attendant, hopefully he’ll get his own mini series where he accidently murders a dude on disney plus, which is a nice update of his globe trotting ways, as it’s a resonable way for someone with no money to get around the world these days and Panchito is a birthday party muscian. They all however chuckle over this realizing they haven’t come as far as they thought.. and they still have each other. It’s a nice way of modernizing Rosa’s jobs for them and their hard luck lives he set up and I love this. IJt’s just a sweet emotoinal scene that makes donald, and his friends, realize they aren’t faliures and life isn’t just about reaching some arbitrarity goal.. just like Soul taught me aka the actually great movie I watched on Christmas Day.  But since Donald’s family is in peril Jose suggests theys till play the gig.. just like they did ion acapulco thus we get the second best scene of the episode and another worthy rendition of The Three Caballeros as our heroes beat the shit out of the plant, free the kids and the plant straighens out scrooges back. 

It’s beautiful, psycadelic, and utterly awesome. Seroiusly the bright boldend colors are awesome and so’s this sequence. Easily one of the show’s best.. and it’s a show that contiains the greatest scene in television history

So that masterclass concludes with Donald signing.. badly.. and blowing the plant hte fuck up. Our heroes win and head off in the sunchaser. No idea what Launchpad is up to, probably has another ex in the area. Point is our heroes win, Dewey deletes his photos because “If there was no pics it didn’t happen” (So wise) and Donald decides to get the band back together, prompting scrooge to do an animal house on Panchito’s guitar... you.. you know you have to pay for that right? you aren’t a loveable frat man and he wasn’t ‘singing and I gave my love a cherry. Your obligated to get him a new guitar. You know that right?

So with that the episode wraps. This is a pretty good episode. While the subplot is bad and it should feel bad the main plot is emotional, well done and really adds more depth to Donald’s character while giving us a hell of a show with the cabs. The College Band background gives the boys a unique flavor this time around, not musically but in how they know each other and helps set it apart from the countless other reunions. It’s a truly bright, colorful and fun episode with some great gags and great performances. As I said Puerto and Paulo really knock it out of the park as the boys and while I would’ve preferred Jamie Camil, Paulo was still utterly excellent, though Puerto was the clear standout of the two. While their second apparence would be disapointing characterization wise, overall this was a fun introduction to two of disney’s best into it’s best universe and one of Season 2′s Standouts. 

Next Time on the Ride of the Three Cablleros: we begin our massive finale look at The Legend of the Three Cablleros. Donald gets dumped by a nightmare of a person and finds an inhertance, new friends, and some sort of hot adventure god in his new cabana. Good times. Until then goodbye, goodbye, goodbye.